


Beat your heart out

by whoisdeh



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Carmilla Punk AU, F/F, NSFW
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-27
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-19 20:26:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3623154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoisdeh/pseuds/whoisdeh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Laura Hollis, Journalist student and one assignment: "Do something you wouldn't do normally, get out of your comfort zone". That's how she ends up in a punk concert on a friday night!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Interview

**Author's Note:**

> Hello people!  
> Welcome to my PunkAu universe! You can follow me on tumblr whoisdeh.tumblr.com and you can search the tag "punk!carmilla" and "punk!carmilla AU" for fanart, videos and read the author complaining about everything. I hope you enjoy it!

“The main objective of this project is to step out of your comfort zone, to experience things you wouldn’t as your first choice. It's advice for life, as journalists you’ll be forced to be in places you wouldn’t want to be if you could, and in situations you might think is uncomfortable, so take this as an exercise for life, seek something you wouldn’t do and on this holiday, just do it” Professor Cochrane said enthusiastically and half the class moaned in despair. Laura imagined that this was given the fact that most of them had already made plans to go on a trip with their relatives or loved ones.

Laura left the building with a frown “search something you wouldn’t do normally and write about it” going through her mind over and over again. Well, let’s start with what she actually did normally. She would go to class, do her research, read 3 different newspapers to find inconsistencies in them, then she would search for the true facts on the internet, just for fun, and because she loved investigative journalism. She knows what you'll think about her, that she’s a nerd that only cares about her studies and she doesn’t have a social life, and yeah, you are probably right. It was Laura’s first year; she had acquaintances, but not friends. They all gave up on her; apparently that’s what happens when you keep turning down offers to go out on raves, or pubs, or bowling… or anything that involves getting out of her computer and comfy clothes. Well, Laura guessed it wouldn’t be that hard to get out of her comfort zone, she only needed to get out of her room. But to do what, exactly?

Destiny answered that question for her. As she walked by the college’s bulletin board, she noticed something weird. It was covered with Wheat-paste of some punk-rock band called “ _Stakes and Fangs_ ”. In the wheat-paste there was a very cool illustration of three girls in a comic book style and written in magazine clipping letters “Stakes and Fangs pocket show. Are you really gonna miss it?” Laura reached for her phone and quickly typed the address shown in the poster. _Well, I guess I have plans for Friday night, then…_

xxxx

It was Friday and Laura’s excitement was tactile. She didn’t know she enjoyed the adventure so much, but there she was, walking towards the address. It end up the place hosting the pocket show was an abandoned hangar, according to Laura’s research the place was usually used to host raves and other underground activities that Laura was not familiar with. The place was crowded, and it could be seen from miles away that Laura did not belong in there. Everyone had ripped denim jackets with patches and spikes and Mohawks, and tattoos, and undercuts, and Laura was just... _Laura_. She knew it was a punk rock concert so she tried to tone down her usual look (that mainly consisted in turtlenecks and dress shirts) and she decided to wear a black t-shirt with a dark gray jacket, but still, she felt like she was standing up too much, even though no one was paying any attention to her. She put her hair up in a high ponytail, suddenly self conscious.

“ _Ok Laura, be cool, just go in there_ ” She thought while dodging the smokers right outside the door to get inside. She was greeted by the bouncer, a very large fellow with lots of piercings and a head tattoo. Laura didn’t really like to judge people based on appearance, but that guy was VERY scary.

“ID” he said quickly and kind of harsh

“I… wait a second” she stuttered, feeling intimidated while searching her pockets.

Seeing her obvious discomfort and noticing her clothing he quickly added “I’m sorry, I was very rude.” he apologized much to Laura’s surprise and relief.

Laura lifted her head to look at him, still searching her pockets “It’s ok…”

“No it’s not, I was rude, I’m sorry. Ma’am would you please show me your identification… That was better, right?” he smiled, friendly. He honestly didn’t know what such a tiny fragile girl was doing there, but he sure as hell would not be the one to scare her away. Punks were already judged too much, and he wasn’t going to contribute to the stereotype.

Laura smiled at him, and he smiled back. “Way better actually. Oh I found it!” she said handing him the ID. He flashed a lantern towards Laura’s document, checking it quickly and gave it back to her.

“Enjoy the show miss Hollis” he smiled friendly at her.

“Thank you” she read the name on the tag in his chest “Mr. Jones” She smiled at him and got inside.

Well it was already an experience right? She misjudged the fellow because of his exterior appearance and first impression, but it turned out he was a fine gentleman, just a little rough on the edges, right?

Inside the hangar the stage was set, there was a lot of lights around it and they gave the stage an amazing visual.

Laura was impressed by the amount of people around. The place was crowded; everyone seemed very excited for the show. Laura decided she would stay on the back of the hangar, away from the stage. She was rather small, and if she stayed between all those people she wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway, so she just stayed put, next the bar, and she even bought herself a beer, she usually didn’t drink, but hey, out of the comfort zone means completely out of it, right?

“Laura?” she heard someone call her name.

She turned around to face whoever called her “Sam!” she greeted an old friend from high school. Well she was all different now, wasn’t she? She was a very tall kid for her age even back then, but now she seemed to be even bigger. Back then she had long blond hair and used a lot of loose and flowery sundresses, and now she was totally hardcore with her spiked bracelet, dark polished fingernails and a very cool undercut.

“What are you doing here? Do you dig punk now?”

“Oh no, is just a think I’m doing for college…”

“Yeah, right, because the Laura Hollis I know would be spending her Friday night buried in her room playing mmorpgs the whole night!”

“Well, that haven’t changed…” she smiled lightly.

“Well, I guess is your choice right? You know what makes you happy and you gotta go for it” she smiled broadly, and now Laura remembered why she had a huge crush on this particular friend. “So, a college thing, right? What is it?”

“Yeah, my teacher asked us to have a new life experience, do something we'd never done and probably wouldn’t do, write about it, if possible to get some interviews or whatever.”

“Oh! I can get you interviews” Sam said excited “I actually know the manager. Her mom is very close friends with my mom, we kind of know each other”

“Seriously? That would be awesome!” Laura was excited. Her plan was to watch the concert and maybe interview some of the punks, or maybe even that cool bouncer. She never expected to get in touch with the band.

“Sure! Just stick around until the end of the show and I’ll introduce you guys.” She quickly glanced towards the stage, she noticed the roadies already leaving the stage which should mean that the band would be up soon “Hey, I gotta go if I wanna be in the front, I like to feel Danny’s drums pounding in my skull, you know? Are you hanging back here?”

“Yes, I’m too short to be in the front with all those tall people”

“Got it. I’ll find you after the show, ok?”

“Ok! See you later”

Shortly after she lost sight of Sam in the middle of the crowd everything went black. Everyone started to cheer and chant “ _Fangs, fangs, fangs_ ”. One faint light went back on and Laura could see the outlines of three people getting up the stage and taking their places next to their instruments. She heard the familiar count of drumsticks, and just like that the air was filled with sound. Laura didn’t expect to enjoy when she first got in, she was never the one to like punk-rock songs, she was honestly more of a Taylor Swift kind of girl, but so far she was enjoying the song very much.

When the singer’s voice joined the melody, Laura knew she was sold for good. The girl had a mighty low pitched voice, with a hint of husky that made everything even better. That voice sounded like hundreds of sleepless nights, cigarettes and beer, it sounded dangerous and exciting and mysterious. Suddenly everything Laura wanted was to know that girl, and gladly she had a good reason to! She didn’t even notice when it happened, and she only realized it when the first song was over, but when she came back to her senses her eyes were shut and she was swaying in the rhythm of the song. Everyone was cheering massively. The girl in front of the microphone smirked to the crowd.

“Oh my, looks like someone is happy to see me, am I right?” She asked in this husky and sexy _purr_ and the crowd cheered louder. Laura was wondering if everyone was enticed by the girls as she was “you guys know we like to pay tribute to the good old bands, and I know you all enjoy this cover, so here it goes.”

The red haired guitar player started some chords, followed by the singer’s mighty voice.

_Holy eyes,_

_I never knew I'd beg down at your feet._

_Hold on tight_

_I never know I know much more than this._

_Open sky_

_the wave of pain the scent of you is bliss._

_Hungry eyes_

_they stare at me,_

_I know, I know,_

 

She sang the first verse, there was something magical with the combination between the guitar chords and her raspy voice. That last word was followed by a whole second of silence, the crowd looked at the singer with anticipation and excitement. The brunette smirked and _screamed_ :

_DON’T GO_

Laura was really loving that song, even though she hated songs that were screamed, but there was something about that song in particular… besides, it was only one line that was screamed so, everything good, right?

Soon it came to a point in the song where everything went dead silent again, the singer slides her fingers through her bass, soon followed by a stream of very sensual yeahs, and ohs, and Laura couldn’t keep her eyes away from the brunette with that powerful voice. Her bass and voice were soon followed by the other girl’s guitar, and then the drums came in, increasing the power of the song. And just like that it was over. Laura wanted to put the song on repeat but obviously she couldn’t.

The rest of the show played out, they must have played about 10 songs, and all of them were awesome but that second one was still ringing in Laura’s mind after it all ended.

The place started to empty out when Sam finally found her again.

“Hey! Sorry to keep you waiting, I was after Perry. She said you could come to talk to the band briefly because they need to put away the instruments and they are kind of tired.”  
“yeah, sure! it won’t take long probably” 

xxxx

“Hi, you must be Laura” a red haired girl greeted her “I’m Perry, nice to meet you. So I understand you want to talk to the band for a journalism class, is that correct?”

“Yes, just a small interview will suffice, I don’t mean to get in your way” Laura said politely

“Come with me, LaFontaine and Carmilla are putting the instruments away, but you can talk to Danny, the drummer”

They entered a small room where a very tall and very gorgeous red haired girl was sitting fidgeting with some cables nervously

“Hi, I’m Laura, nice to meet you Danny” she said raising a hand. To be honest Laura was a bit disappointed. She expected to talk to the brunette singer. But she was happy to get an interview anyway, so she smiled and turned on her voice recorder.

“I’m sorry, I’m kind of nervous, I was never interviewed before” she smiled a bit nervously.

“I noticed the lack of news about you guys, which doesn’t make any sense, this band is absolutely amazing! I think you guys should be harassed by the press”

“No, I mean, we’re kind of known here in Edmonton but we’re only getting attention now, so…”

“Well, tell me about the band then, how did you guys get together?” It was an obvious question, Laura would like to have a more conceptual and a different kind of interview, but the lack of material about the band was a serious problem for her essay, so she had to start with the basics.

“Last year of high school, we got together to play in a dumb school festival, but we worked so well that we decided to stick with the band after it was all over. It was LaFontaine’s idea; they just saw the festival poster and went after musicians in the school. The only ones willing to participate that were slightly good were Carmilla and I. That’s how Stakes and Fangs was born”

“What do you guys do when you’re not doing band stuff?” _very eloquent Hollis, congratulations_

“Well, LaFontaine, the guitar player, is the only one of us who is in college, they are a bio major. I work in my mom’s clothing store, and Carmilla, the singer and bass player is a music teacher.” Laura made a mental note to refer to LaFontaine with neutral pronouns because that’s what Danny seems to be doing

“Do you guys have any kind of label?”

“No, we’re a hundred percent independent. Our EP was really hard to get because founding such projects is very expensive, but we made it! Now we have tons of songs, enough for like two cds already, but we are having trouble with getting the attention of the local labels. We believe we need some publicity, you know? To get out there we need to be involved with something to show those guys who we are and that we’re serious. Most of them look down on us because we have two years of road together and we are very young. They think we’ll break up in the first crises. Little do they know” she smiled bitterly and Laura’s keen journalist nose smelled something.

“Well here’s your chance to make them know, tell us” she pushed gently

“Thing is, me and Carmilla do not get along very well. We endure each other for the sake of this band. We had some girlfriend drama in the past”

“Did you guys use to date?”

“Oh god no that’s disgusting! What happened actually-” she started

“Actually, that’s none of your business” a low annoyed voice said by the door and Laura froze. Of course after a whole hour listening to that amazing voice she would recognize it on the spot “and I’d appreciate if you don’t tell journalists about my personal affairs, Xena”

“Well, it’s my story too, I’m entitled to tell”

“Only if you ask me first”

“Now the two of you, play nice, we have company” Perry said in a bored tone, following Carmilla into the room. It seemed like this kind of dispute was pretty normal between them.

“Hello Carmilla, I’m Laura Hollis, I am…”

“A nosy journalist from Silas University trying to ruin a perfect day, yes, I was told about you”

“Don’t be fucking rude, dead girl!” Danny scolds her.

The third member of the band stopped next to Laura with an amused expression.

“So, Carmilla calls Danny Xena because she is really tall and she can kick ass at any time –I mean, I’ve seen her in enough bar fights before, I can tell - and Danny calls Carmilla dead girl because she’s pale and emotionless all the time. I’m telling you because it's important to have that on your article” they smiled and raised their hand “I’m LaFontaine by the way” Laura shook their hand smiling back. LaFontaine seemed very friendly, and Laura decided she liked her -“ _They”_ she mentally corrected herself.

“That annoying childish attitude of yours is exactly why we haven’t signed with any labels yet” Danny said angrily at Carmilla.

“Oh come on Danny, you know that’s neither true nor fair” LaFontaine said, tired.

“You’re right, that’s not your fault. But you should really work on your attitude”

“Ok, Xena, I will” then she turned to Laura, locking their eyes together “I am sorry for what I said before. I guess I’m just really tired.”

“We should do this other time then, Hollis” LaFontaine started and something glowed in their eyes “oh my god what are you doing this holiday?”

“Probably playing a lot of Diablo, why?”

“First, I love you because you play Diablo, we should totally play together some time, Second: you should totally come to our road trip! We’re traveling to Red Deer and Calgary to play a couple of shows, you should come! You can document the entire thing for you college project and we get to keep the footage in return to show the labels, it's perfect!” LaFontaine searched the other girl’s eyes for opinions.

“I don’t know, LaF” Danny started “are we ready to live a reality show?”

“If anything goes wrong we can just trash it! No one needs to see it besides Laura’s teacher anyways”

“Ok, then, I’m in” Danny said and both of them looked to Carmilla

The brunette shrugged “I don’t care, as long as it’s good for the band I’m in” she said, unimpressed. The three of them looked at Perry.

“I don’t really have a saying in this, it's your band”

“Oh come on Perry, you are our manager!”

“That’s just something you guys call me, it doesn’t really mean anything”

“It totally does. You are our heart, Perr” LaF said lovingly

“Well if you prize my opinion so much, I think it would work but there’s a flaw on your plan”

“What?”

“Does Laura want in? Because she didn’t even say anything and have it crossed your mind that she might feel uncomfortable traveling for two days with people she doesn’t even know?” Perry asked simply and all the eyes fell on her

“I… uh…” Laura considered very quickly her options. For once she really wanted to do that, and they all seemed nice and safe enough, so she said the world that was screaming in her mind since LaFontaine asked her: “yes!”

The project was about going deep in something it’s not from your world, right? Laura was diving head first. A three day road trip, two towns, two shows. She was to gather some footage, make some interviews with both the band and fans, just have some behind the scenes _“Hey Laura, can you edit? I mean, It would be super cool to have a behind the scenes music video, I just love that stuff, it would be the perfect product to give the labels along with our EP”_ LaFontaine mentioned briefly during a conversation and Laura loved the idea. She was so excited about the whole road trip that it was scary even to her.


	2. The Roadtrip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which  
> 1) Laura gets to know Carmilla a little bit better.  
> 2) Carmilla is a dork disguised as a punk  
> 3) I get a bit over excited about Distillers and Brody

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda got super excited about this fanfic and decided to post today instead of tuesday  
> BUT FEAR NOT  
> chapter three will be posted tuesday :D
> 
> as usual, you can follow me on tumblr (whoisdeh) and search the tag "punk!carmilla" and "punk!carmilla AU" for fanart and videos :D

It was Saturday, 8 a.m. and Laura was already with the band, a camera on her hand and Danny was talking to her.

“So, we don’t actually have a Roadie, which means we have to load and unload all of our stuff. The worst part is the drums, but we manage…” She said with a lovely smile while she, LaFontaine and Perry loaded the truck. Laura was missing something, and that something being a very gorgeous and very mysterious brunette.

“Hm… Where’s Carmilla?” she asked like she wasn’t actually dying to know.

“Oh, she’s always late, she’s nocturnal, I’m pretty sure she’s a vampire” LaFontaine said.

“Fuck that, she never helps to load the truck, that excuse is very lame. If you ask me she’s just lazy” she said angrily.

“Don’t forget you’re being filmed, Danny, that means you can’t just say whatever you want” Perry said a bit concerned towards Laura.

“Laura can just edit that, right?” Danny asked her.

“Yes I can but that’s against journalist ethics, I have to tell the truth and the truth is that you and Carmilla don’t get along. If I have clear states of that I have to use it” The small girl said kind of apologetic “of course that’s not going for the material you’ll hand the labels if you don’t want to, but certainly it's going to my college project.”

“Shit… you’re right though, I’ll be more careful”

Laura decided that she liked Danny’s honesty. So far she liked her and LaFontaine a lot. Both were kind and funny.

They had almost finished loading the van when Carmilla arrived in a rather old but yet full of character 1970’s red Mustang. Laura automatically turned the camera towards the car as Carmilla got out of it, and she watched in awe as Carmilla took off her aviators and slid her fingers through her hair. She was looking gorgeous with very _very_ small black shorts with rivets and a lose see through tank top and Laura was suddenly feeling self conscious about her old jeans and shirt.

“I know, I’m sorry. My stupid phone died in the middle of the night and the alarm didn’t go off” she said annoyed.

“How did you get up in time? I mean, sort of. You usually don’t get up until noon” LaFontaine asked.

“My roommate accidentally woke me up while she was getting ready for something” Carmilla seemed indeed embarrassed, Laura believed her, LaFontaine and Perry seemed to believe her too but Danny had her eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah, right, just load the rest of the stuff in your car, there’s only one seat left in the van, someone gotta go with you, don’t forget that” Danny looked at LaF and Perry. No way those two were being kept apart for the whole trip, and no way she would torture herself in the same car with Carmilla. Gladly she didn’t have to say a world because Carmilla spoke first.

“No way I’m going alone with Xena and LaF and Perry are Siamese twins so” She turned to Laura, looking at her for the first time that day “I’m guessing you’re my shotgun today, cupcake” she smirked and Laura felt a tug in her stomach. Yeah, she was considering the idea of being attracted to the singer, and yeah, that was a very solid point in favor of that idea.

“Oh sorry I forgot my bullets at home” she joked and Carmilla’s smirk widened.

“C’mon dead girl, the cables are not gonna jump into your car” Danny said throwing a set of cables at Carmilla’s direction. The brunette managed to grab them, losing her balance but quickly retrieving it.

“Oy! Watch it, Xena” she growled

Laura put away the camera and went off to help, even with LaF, Perry and Danny saying it was not necessary, she just wanted to have something to do to keep her from staring at Carmilla’s arms lifting their equipment. Not that Carmilla was specially toned or anything, she was just very gorgeous and, as much as Laura was embarrassed to admit it, that was another solid point in the case of being attracted to her, which was ridiculous, because she barely talked to her. _Well, I guess that’s why it’s called physical attraction, Laura_ , she thought annoyed at herself, sighing.

Ten minutes later and they were done with loading the equipment. Perry had a clipboard and they were checking to see if nothing was forgotten.

“Carmilla did you get extra picks?”

“Yes, mom” She said darting her tongue towards Laura, who chuckled mutely while filming the scene. Good thing she was using a portable steadicam her friend from the A.V. major lent her, otherwise the scene would have to be cut out because of Laura’s unsteady movements.

“Ok, everything is here, and we’re on time.” she said smiling and reaching for a map. She opened the map above Carmilla’s car hood and pointed a road “we’re going through here, ok? we’ll probably be in Red Deer in two hours, we’ll take our stuff to the hotel and then go out to grab something to eat. By two p.m. we’ll have to be in the bar to do the sound check” she said and everyone nodded.

It was really nice to observe their dynamics. Perry would insist she was not important, that “manager” was just a name and she didn’t really do anything, but as far as Laura had seen in two days, Perry was very important and most of all she seemed pleased with organizing the band’s appointments such as shows and rehearsals. Danny had her feet on the ground; she was realistic and seemed like a very strong person overall. She was mostly responsible for speaking with people, being the front girl of the band, talking to fans and such. Carmilla mostly kept to herself, but during the shows she was the band’s living soul, a crowd pleaser, outside the stage she would make some snarky jokes and eventually she and Danny would almost bite each other’s head off, and that’s where LaFontaine came in, they were the point of balance in all this mess. They were always the one who stopped Carmilla and Danny from killing each other.

The most amazing thing was that Laura could not think of 4 people who were more opposite and still everything seemed to work just fine, even with the small arguments, Laura could see that Danny and Carmilla respected each other enough to help one another when needed, and of course, they would always listen to Perry or LaFontaine when one of them asked them to stop arguing. And the journalist just knew they were not faking it or posing to the camera, it was all very natural. Before she could realize it she was smiling, even if it was just for 3 days she was happy to be a part of this.

Laura decided she also liked Perry for her motherly attributes. And for Carmilla, well, she was different, and Laura was definitely attracted to her, but she didn’t know the first thing about her. ‘well, I guess the road trip is my chance to get to know her better’ she thought to herself.

LaFontaine raised their hand in the middle of them “ok then, everything ready to rock and roll?” everyone smiled and they put their hands one by one above LaFontaine’s

“For the record, we’re a punk rock band, not rock and roll.” Carmilla rolled her eyes but placed her hand above everyone else’s “You’re joining us, cupcake?” Carmilla smirked at Laura

“What? I’m not in the band” She answered, caught by surprise  
“But you’re _with_ the band, c’mon” LaFontaine pointed out

Laura smiled and put her free hand on top of the pile

“let’s go” Danny said, and they all raised their hands together smiling”

xxxxx

“So, tell me everything” Laura asked excited with the camera towards Carmilla, who was sat in the driver’s sit with an annoyed expression

“If I knew you were going to keep that damn camera in my face the whole trip I’d have asked Danny to come with me” Carmilla said rolling her eyes, but Laura could see a hint of a smirk.

“I’m trying to get some quality footage here, Carmilla, I need you to cooperate!” Laura huffed

“Ok, cupcake, what you wanna know?”

“First: why do you call me cupcake? You know my name”

“Spoilers…” Carmilla smirked and glanced at her quickly “nothing, just ask the damn questions already, geez. Reporters are so nosy”

“That’s our job!” she said scrunching up her nose “ok, so, first things first, before going to your concert on Friday I researched about you guys and the only thing I could find was a facebook page with terrible pictures taken by fans and the details for your next show, so I know nothing about you!”

“yeah, well, none of us is specially interested in taking care of the page, I mean, LaF is but they are very busy with college, so is Perry. Me and Danny have more time but no interest in this shit” she shrugged “I guess we need a public relations manager” she smirked

“That would help you a lot you know? Now for the first question, why is the band called _Stakes and Fangs_?” she asked and Carmilla _laughed,_ like, a real honest to god laugh. It was the first time Laura saw it (she had spent the whole morning brooding about having to wake up too early or brooding about the traffic they were caught in. To be fair, she kind of had a point, because they were stuck at the exact same spot for the past 20 minutes – with the engine turned off because they just gave up, at which point Laura took her camera and started nagging Carmilla to give her an exclusive interview) “what are you laughing about?”

“It's just… is a funny story. It was LaF’s idea, you see, since before the band, Danny and I hated each other. LaF had begged us to give the band a shot, we agreed, and they scheduled a rehearsal with us. At some point during the rehearsal me and Danny were arguing about something stupid, I don’t even remember what it was, when Danny called me a ‘stupid undead vampire’ and I said something like _‘you better bring your stake tomorrow because I will bite you, Buffy’_ ” Carmilla told her and Laura was very happy she got her _steadicam_ on otherwise she would have ruined another take with her chuckling “At the beginning of this fight LaF was terrified but at this point they started to laugh so hard that Danny and I just stopped fighting to stare at them, I mean, we were a bit lost. We were about to bite each other’s head off and they were uncontrollably laughing.”

“That doesn’t explain the name” Laura pointed

“I wasn’t finished, cupcake.” she winked at Laura and she felt the now familiar tug in her stomach “When LaF’s hysteria stopped they said _‘we should totally be called Stakes and Fangs, I mean, you two fighting is like the most recurrent thing in this band and we should totally chose a name that defines us, right?’_ And that’s it, that’s the story of how me and Danny fighting 80% of the time we should be rehearsing gave us a name”

“Which leads me to the second question, how are you able to be in a band with someone that fights with you so much?”

Laura could swear Carmilla flushed a bit while she said “look, just, don’t tell her I said this, but I really admire her. She’s _very_ good with the drums, she’s also very good with revising my lyrics and making them better. Also… she’s kind of a good sidekick… I don’t know, she’s very loyal, ok? She took me away from some bad situations before” she said embarrassed.

“Wait, so are you telling me you actually like her?” Laura said in disbelief.

“No, I never said that, I just said she’s useful” she said pouting. Laura smiled and decided not to ask more questions about that. “Are you done? Because I want to put on some music, I’m very bored right now. I hate traffic” Carmilla said rolling her eyes once again.

Laura moved to close the camera but decided against it “Maybe this is the perfect time for you to talk about some references” Laura smiled.

Something in Carmilla seemed to have lit up as she grabbed a bunch of CDs and started talking about the bands and how they influenced _Stakes and Fangs_. But seeing Laura’s confusion she deflated a bit.

“You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you, cupcake?”

“I’m sorry, I’m not very familiar with punk rock music, that’s why I’m here in the first place” Laura smiled embarrassed “But I swear I’m super interested, if it counts for something” she shrugged and Carmilla smirked, she searched through her cds, apparently searching for one in specific.

“Ok then, let’s talk about The Distillers. Remember that song we covered last night? It was the second one we played”

Oh, how could Laura forget? she was completely taken by that song since its first chord left LaF’s guitar “Yes, actually it was my favorite song from last night, I mean, I loved all your songs but there is something about that one…” she said thoughtfully.

Something crossed Carmilla’s eyes, but instead of saying whatever it was she just resumed the topic “This is my favorite band. Brody Dalle, the singer, is one of my role models; I’m inspired by her when I sing. The Distillers was formed in the late 90’s, yeah, I know they were kind of late for the “punk movement”, they were actually punk rock with some alternative thrown in it, some people say they are too trashy, but I think the roughness is what makes them super cool. The band broke in 2006, sadly, but it’s cool because of this” Carmilla raised a cd written “ _Spinnerette_ ” on its cover “this is Brody Dalle’s second band, it’s very different from Distillers when it comes to sonority, it’s not that rough and trashy, it’s overall more _professional_ so to speak. But we still have Brody’s music style, which is great”

“I mean, not that I hate this music history lesson, but, why are you telling me all this?”

“Well, I’m telling you all this because you said you know nothing about punk rock and you asked about our influences. I’m introducing you to _Spinnerette,_ that is probably one of the few bands all three of us love, and one of our inspirations even though is not punk rock” she said while putting the CD inside the stereo “I can’t really introduce you to Brody Dalle starting with Distillers, it’s not your style, but I’m absolutely sure you’ll at least enjoy one or two songs from _Spinnerette_ ” Carmilla said smirking.

Laura closed the camera, she knew that nothing recorded after the stereo was on would be useful, besides, she kind of wanted to enjoy this moment with Carmilla. Her very first contact with the singer was great, she saw her on the stage and she was immediately taken by the girl’s charisma, of course, the whole magical atmosphere was broken when she saw Carmilla and Danny fighting over something the red-haired wanted to tell Laura but the singer was not comfortable with sharing. To be honest Laura thought that the brunette hated her from that moment on, but apparently she was wrong. The singer was very broody indeed, and snarky, and sarcastic, and had a peculiar sense of humor, but Laura definitely did not feel hated.

The traffic moved about 30 feet and stopped again. Carmilla banged her head on the wheel and turned the car off again. A song that she appeared to enjoy started. Laura watched as Carmilla shut her eyes, her head rocking in the rhythm of the music, her lips muttering the lyrics and she was automatically motioning her hands like she was actually playing the song in the guitar. Laura thought that was endearing. She kind of wished to film the scene, but decided against it, it felt like an invasion of privacy.

She only noticed she was staring when Carmilla opened her eyes at the end of the song. She closed her mouth quickly (when the hell did she open it?) looking away, trying to hide her embarrassment.

“Did you like it?” Carmilla asked.

“What?” Laura panicked.

“The song” The singer frowned.

“Oh, it was very good. I like her voice.” Laura twisted her nose in what Carmilla thought to be an adorable grimace “Can I make a request?”

“Yeah, sure, what is it?” She shrugged.

“I know you said I wouldn’t like Distillers and that you wouldn’t start with it, and I totally trust your opinion, but can you put on that song you guys played yesterday?” she asked fidgeting with the hem of her shirt “I really liked that one…”

The journalist could see with the corner of her eye Carmilla smirking, she reached for the glove compartment to grab a bunch of cd’s and Laura offered a tight smile. It took her a couple of seconds to locate and place the CD in the stereo. She shuffled through the tracks and pressed play.

Laura really enjoyed that song, it was different in the original version, it seemed rougher, but it was very cool. Brody’s voice was amazing and Laura could understand why Carmilla had her as a role model.

The journalist could not stop thinking about how Carmilla sang it better.

xxxxxxxxx

They had finally reached the small diner they were supposed to stop for lunch, in Red Deer. Laura got out of the car to meet Perry, Danny and LaFontaine. Carmilla got out of her car stretching and yawning and Laura was trying really hard to contain a smile because she couldn’t ignore the girl’s similarities to a cat.

“See? That’s why I always plan ahead, and that’s why we left so soon. That traffic costs us an hour”

“You’re awesome, Perr, what would we do without you?” LaF said kissing her cheek and giving her a brief hug, leaving Perry with an adorable blush.

“But it’s ok, thanks for Perry’s awesome schedule we still have time to eat and get there in time for the sound check maybe even rest for a couple of hours, we should be fine” Danny said.

“Can we stop the praising and eat? I’m starving” Carmilla ranted.

LaF rolled their eyes “Sure, Karnstein, but you know, it won’t hurt to acknowledge Perry’s awesome work”.

Carmilla took a few steps toward the diner and stopped, looking over her shoulder.

“You always do a good job” and left for the diner.

Laura smiled because the more Carmilla tries to come as a heartless broody punk, the more Laura finds her adorable. She adds this to the list of “why am I interested on this girl” and move on.

The journalist spent the lunch time asking questions to Danny, LaF and Perry, alternating them so two of them could eat while she was interviewing the other. It was all a very nice experience, very different from what she would do for her essays, meaning: a lot of internet research, interviewing people through e-mail and writing everything down. The girl never had interviewed people on tape, and now that she was doing it, she felt she had found her true calling. It was just way more exciting walking around with a camera, trying to find good material for the interview, maybe even a backstage music video!

Twenty minutes later Laura turned off the camera, happy with the material she'd gathered.

“Wait, aren’t you asking Carmilla stuff?” Danny asked.

“Oh, we covered things up during the traffic; I think I already have enough material for my essay, that will only cover how you guys met and some basic information about the band, although it would be cool to have some interviews with fans in it.” she said thoughtfully.

“You’re not leaving, are you?” Carmilla asked a little too quickly to come as a casual question.

“Oh, no, I’m staying for the two shows, I mean, I might have enough for my essay but I’m so not done with you guys! There are a lot of things I want to shoot for your music video so…”

“Wait, are you making us a music video?” LaF asked

“You were the one who brought it up!”

“But I was just mentioning, I wasn’t really asking for it! You don’t need to, we know that’s a lot to ask…” LaF panicked.

“I want to.” she said simply, shrugging “I really like you guys. I mean, I’ll have to ask help from my friend who’s an A.V. major, but… Yeah, totally” she smiled.

Everyone in the table was staring at her, for a moment she thought they didn’t want it but then Danny stood up and grabbed Laura, yanking her out of her chair and giving her a big, crushing bear hug. She was soon followed by LaF and Perry. They looked at Carmilla who rolled her eyes but joined the group hug anyways.

“Thank you, Laura” they all said.

“Ok we have to stop this mushy thing right now. Everyone is staring” Carmilla said taking distance from the group. They all parted and got back to their chairs as if nothing had happened. But the other costumers' faces were priceless (just you imagine a 6”4 red haired girl with an undercut, plaid shirt with the sleeves ripped off, a lot of tattoos and piercings, crushing a 5”3’ girl in a hug. Like that wasn’t weird enough, imagine a group hug with 3 punk rockers, Perry and a dwarf)

Now Laura knew how it felt to really have a place where she belonged.


	3. The Singer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Carmilla plays reporter for a bit and Laura is considering her options because she knows she's already whipped as fuck.

They were setting things up for the sound check in the bar stage. Danny and LaF were putting Danny’s drum together as Carmilla tuned her bass and two of LaF’s guitars. Laura was, of course, with her camera in hand, taking a few takes of them working. Minutes later everything was set up and they were ready to roll. They played a few songs, discussed what should be the playlist, everything was very chill and Laura thought it was a miracle that Carmilla and Danny were not trying to kill each other. 

“So, what about that girl you were seeing? You haven’t brought her yesterday” LaF asked when they were on a break 

“Oh, she was just too clingy, I mean, sex was great but” she shrugged “eventually you get tired of it” 

“You are such a prick” Danny said really mad. “Not everyone is as heartless as you are, Carmilla.” 

‘ _Too soon, Laura Hollis, too soon’_ she thought while turning off the camera 

“I did nothing wrong, Danny, just because you believe in monogamy and steady relationships it doesn’t mean everyone does.” 

“I know that, but did you bother telling it to the girl before breaking her heart?” 

“I didn’t break her heart, Xena, and yes I told her we weren’t exclusive, I always do” 

“Oh, yeah? Because I have the feeling that Elsie didn’t get the memo” 

Carmilla was relatively cool until this moment, but when Danny mentioned this Elsie girl Laura saw her jaw clenching. 

“That was four years ago, Danny, I was young and I had no idea that she would get so invested-“ 

“Yeah, and because you were _young_ and _reckless_ I had to spend three months comforting _the girl I was in love with, that was brokenhearted because you couldn’t keep it in your pants”_ Danny was trying really hard not to yell. 

“Danny, just drop it that was years ago and you know the whole thing was a huge mistake. Not that Carmilla was right but-“ LaF said but was interrupted by a very mad Danny. 

“Ok I get it” she said “I’m going to the van, I need to take a nap” she said storming off” 

“Yikes” LaFontaine said then they look at Laura “you ok there, Hollis?” 

“I’m fine… just a bit lost” 

LaFontaine looked at Carmilla, who rolled her eyes and gestured for Laura to follow her, the girl quickly obliged. 

Carmilla led her through a set of stairs and then through a corridor that ended in a balcony furnished with only a bench and a table. The sun was setting in the horizon, and the view was just breathtaking. Both girls stopped and let the view sink in. Carmilla sat in the bench and looked at Laura. 

“Do you mind if I smoke?” 

“No, my dad smokes, I’m kind of used to it already” she shrugs. 

“Wait, you’re not gonna lecture me about the dangers of nicotine?” Carmilla teased. 

“No way, you already know that shit and if you smoke is because you either have a death wish or can’t stop at all” 

Carmilla smirked “you never cease to surprise me. Have you considered that maybe I just like smoking sometimes? I’m not addicted, I can go many months without smoking and being completely ok with it. I’m just really tired and stressed out about that whole drama and the traffic” she sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. 

“What was that all about, anyway? I mean, I’m asking as a friend here, not as a reporter” 

Carmilla considered it for a second, dragging her cigarette and exhaling “when we were in high school Danny was in love with this girl, Elsie, she didn’t know about Danny’s feelings, actually no one did, Danny never told anyone until a long time later. The girl was straight, or at least we thought she was, until this day, at a party, she was drunk, we kissed in a stupid game and she got obsessed about me, texted me all the time and shit, I didn’t even like her but I was young and stupid, I was lonely and she gave me attention. We dated, we had sex –it was her first time- but then I met other girl, and I slowly drifted apart from her without saying anything” Carmilla sighed “I was such a bitch, I always texted her back until something more interesting showed up” She looked truly regretful. 

“Nowadays I just make myself very clear when I’m not in it for a relationship, but back then I was just too horny to think about other people’s feelings, and I made a lot of mistakes. Thing is, Elsie went to Danny to cry her heart out. It was already hard for Danny to listen to all the things she told her about us, like the time we had sex, or how happy she was with me. Now imagine to hear the person you love being brokenhearted, of course she would hate me for that. Knowing Danny, if I made Elsie happy she wouldn’t hate me at all, but I broke her heart. She kind of holds that against me until this day, and I don’t even blame her” Carmilla finished. 

“Wow, that is intense” 

“Yeah, but you know we usually just don’t talk about it. She only brought it up because she’s tired, I think. We’ll be fine don’t worry” 

Carmilla took a long drag from her cigarette and Laura could do nothing but stare. The girl was gorgeous, and right now the orange light of the sunset was painting her features in the most beautiful way. Laura turned on her camera and took a picture of her. 

“Hey, what are you doing?” she asked amused 

“I’m sorry, you just look really beautiful in this light” she showed the picture to Carmilla and she seemed surprise. 

“Thanks” she said and Laura could swear she was blushing a little. 

xxxxxxx 

There was still an hour left for the show and the bar that would host the event was already crowded. Laura and the rest of the S &F were in the VIP session taking pictures with fans and signing albums, Perry was selling the EPs and talking amicably with everyone while Laura was taking this moment to interview some of the oldest fans of the band (that had come all this way to Reed Deer from Edmonton only to see their performance, even though they could just wait for a week to the next concert, that was going to be held in their hometown). 

It was all pretty usual, the signing was over, the band was scattered across the room talking to small groups, Laura was still filming when something caught her attention. Carmilla was talking to a girl, the proximity between them caused her stomach to sink. The brunette had her hand in the girl’s small back, and Laura just knew by that smirk that she was flirting with the girl. The journalist tried to look away, spare her from watching the scene but before she gathered the willpower to do so, another girl approached them both. Laura was close enough to hear the following conversation: 

“So this is how it goes, huh, Carmilla?” said the girl. Laura recognized her as part of the group that came from Edmonton, Natalie, Laura thinks “until last week you were fucking me like I was the last girl in the world, then out of nowhere you just stop returning my calls, stop texting me, I thought ‘ _hey, maybe she’s just busy, I’ll see her in the concert’_. I came all this way here only to see you flirting with that bitch?” she motioned at the now scared girl beside Carmilla. 

Carmilla sighed and ran her fingers through her hair “sweetheart, we were never exclusive, I was never your girlfriend, and I certainly told you so. I don’t owe you any kind of explanation” she said, annoyed. 

The girl was really mad; she slapped Carmilla and stormed off. The brunette placed a hand on her cheek where the girl had just slapped her and it wasn’t until then that she saw Laura, her face went from annoyance to furious in a blink. Carmilla closed the gap between them in a heartbeat 

“if you put this shit in your fucking project I will kill you, nosy bitch” 

Laura was scared; she didn’t even realize she was still filming until now. And oh boy, Carmilla was _really_ mad. Everything happened really fast, in a heartbeat Danny was by her side and yelling at Carmilla. 

“Don’t you fucking talk to her like that; it’s not her fault to be caught up in the middle of your lady drama. Keep it in your pants and go to the dressing room, you have to warm up and change. We’ll be up in 20 minutes.” 

The singer didn’t answer, she just turned and left to the dressing room. 

“Hey Laura, you know she didn’t mean that, right?” Danny said, she looked really concerned. 

Laura was shaking but she did her best not to show it “yes, I know, she was just mad because she got slapped, and I mean, no one wants to share footage like that. I understand” that didn't mean she wasn’t shaken up. 

“Cool…” 

“I… can I go to the dressing room? I want to apologize, and, you know, I kind of need to record her warming up” Laura asked embarrassed. 

“Yeah, just be careful, and if she acts like a bitch again you can talk to me, ok?” 

Laura nodded and left. She made the whole trajectory thinking about how she would apologize and make sure to Carmilla that the footage would be discarded as soon as possible. She also considered her undeniable attraction to Carmilla. Did she really want to be with a girl with such history? There was that Elsie girl, there was no denying she used the girl, and now there was this Natalie girl, but well, she knew that Carmilla told her that they were not steady or exclusive, but did Laura want in on that? When Laura realized she was already at the door, She shook the frown off her face and knocked on the door. She waited until Carmilla’s muffled voice said ‘come in’ to open the door. 

“Look Carmilla I wanted to-” She started but froze in place. Carmilla was Naked. Not exactly naked, but half naked, and she had her back towards Laura. The journalist could see a lot of tattoos, including a panther on her left shoulder and some intricate steampunk drawing. Laura could not fail to notice the girl was wearing some lacy red lingerie, and not that she was very toned, but she was in a very good shape. Laura’s mouth was slightly parted. 

“You were saying, cupcake?” Carmilla asked without facing Laura (which she appreciated because she didn’t wanted to be caught staring). 

Laura did the one thing she could, she turned to face the door and said “uh- yeah, sorry for what happened. I didn’t even notice I was still filming and I swear to god I’m not releasing this, actually, as soon as I get to my notebook I’ll delete this footage” She could feel her face getting hot and an insistent throb between her legs that she hadn't felt for a long time. 

Carmilla sighed “it’s ok, cupcake, I’m sorry for calling you a bitch. In fact you are the exact opposite of it. You’re even staring at the door because I’m in my underwear” she said amused. 

“Well, I don’t want to invade your privacy” 

“I said you could come in, didn’t I?” 

“Yes, but-” 

“You are not invading if you are being invited, sweetheart” Laura could hear the grin in her voice “stop being an idiot and turn around, I need your help” 

Laura took a deep breath and turned, of course Carmilla was still in her underwear and the front view was even more spectacular. Her abs were very sexy and she had more tattoos on her chest, but Laura didn’t allow herself to look for too long. She gulped and focused on Carmilla’s face. 

“I need you to help me get dressed” she said amused by the girl’s reaction. 

“What? I’m sorry, I don’t mean to judge you but you don’t strike me as the kind that worries about outfit” 

“Usually I don’t, but when I’m doing shows I like to look my best, you know, it’s my job.” she shrugs. 

“That’s very considerate of you” Laura walked towards the closet, not concerned about Carmilla’s lack of clothes for the first time after she went in. Laura checked the options “hey, why don’t you use those leather pants? It's really cool, and uh…” she pointed a very cool loose sleeveless shirt that had _punk is not dead_ written in a scratched calligraphy “with this shirt, and that cool vest you have with all those buttons and spikes?” 

Carmilla smirked at her and walked toward the rack grabbing the clothes Laura had pointed, getting too close to the journalist in the process, which reminded Laura of two things, the still insistent throbbing and Carmilla's lack of clothing. The journalist was very embarrassed to have the singer so close to her, but she quickly walked around Laura towards the couch, where she dumped the rest of the clothing while she was putting the leather pants on 

“I didn’t take you for a leather kind of girl, kinky huh?” Carmilla teased 

“hey I’m not the one wearing them!” she managed to say and mentally high fived herself for being able to think of that great come back while she had Carmilla half naked 3 foot away from her. 

“You have a point” she said putting her shirt. 

Carmilla walked to Laura stopping a little too close from her “I’m totally a leather kind of girl, by the way” 

“Well, it suits you very well” Laura gulped. 

Carmilla frowned a bit and then smirked. 

“You’re not straight, are you?” she asked raising an eyebrow. 

“Well, you shouldn’t ask people this kind of stuff like that, it's personal” Laura blushed furiously “But yeah, I’m not straight” 

“Huh, seems like I was wrong, I’m never wrong” she considered Laura for a second and smirked again. “You are very entertaining Laura Hollis, and definitely more interesting than I first thought” 

Carmilla was close, and by close it meant 4 inches. Laura’s brain just froze, she couldn’t really make a move or produce a single thought while Carmilla was looking this deep into her eyes, specially because she had that trademark smirk of hers on her face. For a second, Laura thought Carmilla was going to kiss her, but instead she turned away to grab her bass. She sat on the couch and played a few notes. 

“Make yourself at home, cupcake, but as far as I know you have some footage to gather” she said, still playing her bass. 

Laura woke up from her stupor and raised the camera, turning it on. 

xxxxxx 

Laura was glad she had a good reason to stare at Carmilla during the show, of course, her mind was torturing her about it. She knew that if she ever acted on her attraction for the singer she would end up devastated. Laura was the kind of girl who liked to cuddle after sex, get together for an innocent movie night once in a while, walk around hand in hand. She was never the kind of girl to have one night stands, not that she condemned the practice, it was just not her thing, and she just knew that if she ever kissed Carmilla, or even had sex with her, it would probably a onetime thing. Laura was considering all the viable pros and cons, her brows were furrowed, her bottom lip tugged between her teeth, her hair was poorly tied up in a messy bun and she was holding the camera towards the band. 

“If you bite that lip with more dedication you might rip it off” Perry almost gave Laura a heart attack when she talked in her ear – whispering was impossible because both girls were on the stage a few feet away from Danny’s drum 

“Jesus fuck Perry! Are you trying to kill me?” she said laud enough for Perry to understand. 

“sorry.” she smiled apologetically “it's really cool though huh, to be on the stage? I’ve been to a number of concerts with them, but I never get bored of this. It's really exciting” 

Laura nodded, offering a quick smile but soon she was frowning again 

“What is it? You can talk to me” Perry asked “c’mon, let’s go to the dress room. The show is almost over anyway” 

xxxx 

Perry sat on the couch and crossed her legs. 

“What’s bothering you sweetie?” Perry asked affectionately. 

Laura considered if she could actually tell her. Thinking about it was driving her crazy and she had only known Carmilla for two days! What if Perry asked her to leave because she had a crush on the singer? I mean, she should be a professional here. But what were her real options anyway? Be quiet about it and spend how much time she wants with the band but having to endure Carmilla’s groupies all the time? Telling Perry and ask her to keep it a secret? In fact, none of the options were very good. Of course, in a perfect world she could just tell Carmilla she was attracted to her and they would date, fall in love, and be happily ever after. Laura laughed at her innocence. She knew very little of Carmilla, and the little that she knew was already enough evidence to bring down that utopian dream of hers. 

Laura suddenly realized that Perry was still waiting “I’m sorry, I just don’t know if I can tell you” she would at least try to be as honest as she could. 

“You’re into Carmilla” Perry said. 

“WHAT?” _how did she-_

“Oh please, honey, it's written on your face.” She gestured to the couch and Laura sat beside her, looking at Perry with a small pout and puppy dog eyes. 

“Does everyone already know? It’s been two days!” 

“Laura, Carmilla is a very charming and gorgeous girl, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. And yes everyone knows. Except for Carmilla who thinks you are straight” 

“Well now she knows I’m not” 

Perry raised her eyebrows “really?” 

“Yeah, she asked and I just told her” 

“She _asked_?” Laura nodded “Carmilla doesn’t ask, she just takes and if she’s wrong –and believe me when I tell you, she almost never is- she apologizes and move on” 

“What does that even mean?” 

“That’s not important. Look sweetie, I know Carmilla has a reputation, and well this reputation is totally right, she’s a womanizer, she has one night stands every weekend, but she has rules about it, and she follows them. She always makes sure the girl she sleeps with knows about her rules and she has a lot of them.” 

Laura frowned “so you’re saying that I have no chance?” 

“Of course you do, Laura, she’s into you, but you cannot expect her to call the next day, maybe you want to risk it, maybe not, I don’t know how far on the road you are” Perry shrugs “you have to consider it and see if you think it's worth it. Or you know, maybe you should just be reckless and go for it without spending too much time thinking about it. Sometimes being reckless can be very rewarding” Perry said nodding in a funny way that made Laura smile. 

“GOD! THAT WAS AWESOME” Laura heard LaF saying as they walked into the dressing room 

“Did you see how they cheered? I think it's safe to say they loved us” Danny completed with a charming smile. 

“I hope you got enough footage of this” LaF said, not waiting for an answer and walking straight to Perry and giving her a full on kiss on the lips. Laura suspected they were a couple already because of their whole body language, but they were usually a very discrete couple, this PDA was uncommon, to say the least. 

Danny, Carmilla and Laura shared a look. 

“So, I have a couple of friends in town and they are here, I’m going to have a beer with them. See you guys later. Oh, and maybe I'll crash at their house ok?” 

Carmilla nodded and looked at Laura, her voice were raspy when she talk “Wanna grab a beer?” 

Laura noded and stood up, following Carmilla as she left the room, Danny went right back to the bar and Carmilla led Laura towards the stairs near the end of the hall, that brought them to the balcony they were sooner that day. 

“I thought you said you wanted a beer?” Laura asked confused. Her heart was pounding and she was glad the music could be heard from the second floor, otherwise she was sure the singer could hear the drumming noise coming from her chest. 

Instead of answering Carmilla just smiled and opened the doors motioning towards two coolers placed near the small bench. 

“When did this get here?” 

“Well I asked the owner to bring some beer. My intention was to invite everyone over but the Siamese gingers are making out and Danny has other plans, so… it’s just you and me again, cutie” Carmilla offered her a charming smile. 

Like Laura needed any _more_ reasons to be into this girl. 

She tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, suddenly self-conscious 

“You are a very pretty girl, did you know that?” Carmilla said honestly, like she didn’t give it much thought. 

“I-uh- thanks” _so eloquent, as usual Hollis._

“Wait, did I leave the journalist speechless? If I had known that this is all that would take to shut you up I’d have done it sooner” she laughed. 

Laura swatted her arm with the back of her hand “shut up you jerk” 

Carmilla faked being hurt and laughed again. Laura couldn’t stop the smile that was spreading across her face. 

The singer opened the cooler, grabbing two beers, she opened them using her forearm 

“Show off” Laura teased. 

“I’m not showing off, I’m just super cool, buttercup” she said taking a sip from her beer “now tell me about you. You asked a bunch of stuff about me, now I wanna know about you” 

Laura raised her eyebrows; she was definitely not expecting this “Well, I’m here as a reporter, I have to ask questions-“ 

“I know buttercup, but that doesn’t mean I can’t ask _you_ questions, right?”   
“Right.” Laura took a sip of her beer and sighed “I’m boring, Carmilla, you don’t want to know about me” 

“Try me” she said with other one of her trademarked smiles. 

“Well, I was born and raised in a small town, my dad is a very nice guy, he owns a little hardware store in said small town. I lost my mother when I was very young and her biggest dream was that I'd get into college and get out of that town she had lived in her whole life. That’s it” 

“That’s so not it! I want the juicy stuff, c’mon Hollis! Tell me about your first kiss” 

“How is my first kiss story juicy?” she asked amused. 

“Just tell me!” 

Laura smiled and sighed, shaking her head “It was Valentine’s Day, there was this guy, Kirsh, and he liked me a lot back then. We were in the courtyard, it was a free period, he came to me and gave me this huge heart-shaped box of chocolate, I blushed furiously of course, I was so embarrassed, I was only fourteen and I had never kissed a boy. All my friends were there and they started chanting “ _kiss, kiss, kiss_ ” and I panicked. I did the only thing I could do. I kissed him. I didn’t even like him, I mean, not like _like_ him, he was a nice dude but I didn’t wanna kiss him. But there he was, puppy eyed and smiling, and the pressure my friends put in, I just gave in” she shrugged. 

“oh god Laura, you’re so sweet. If he proposed to you in public you would probably just say yes” 

Laura widened her eyes “I don’t even want to consider this possibility” 

Carmilla let out a soft laugh “come on, keep going, how did you get rid of him?” 

“There’s nothing much to add. He followed me around like a puppy for a week until I finally gathered the courage to brush him off.” 

“Well, but you’re gay, right? Did you know this when you kissed him?” 

“Yeah, I mean, I was suspicious since I was 13 and all the girls were talking about boys and that didn’t make any sense, then this one day I realized that everything they talked about boys was how I felt about girls. I was lucky enough to have a great sex education teacher that covered homosexuality too, very briefly, but it was enough for me to not freak out about liking girls.” 

“That’s really cool. But how was your first kiss with a _girl_?” She asked amused. 

“Oh that was… well, we were playing truth or dare. I was 15 and I had this huge crush on this girl, she was a friend of mine, and some dude thought it would be fun to ask for two girls to kiss. So he dares her to kiss me, and she did, and it was awesome. One day I was very drunk I told her that I enjoyed that kiss more than I enjoyed kissing Kirsch, and she told me she would like to kiss me again. She was my first girlfriend. Of course it was all a secret but it was very cool.” 

“Why did you guys broke up?” Laura could not imagine why, but Carmilla seemed very interested on her story, which was both amazing and frightening. 

Laura shrugs “it didn’t work. I wanted to be out and she wanted to stay in the closet so we just broke up” 

“That’s shitty, huh?” Carmilla offered a sympathetic smile. 

“Yeah, why are you asking me about my teenage years?” 

Carmilla shrugs and smile “I think you’re kinda cool, I wanted to know you better” 

“Oh, yeah, says the singer of a very awesome punk-rock band” 

“As usual you’re jumping to conclusions, cupcake. Have you considered the possibility that I’m actually very tired of the people I know?” 

Laura raised her eyebrows “what do you mean?” 

“People in this scene are very predictable, besides, meeting groupies that know a lot about you all the time gets very old. Having someone that knows what I do but doesn’t treat me like ‘the singer of _stakes and fangs’_ is refreshing. Besides, you keep surprising me” Carmilla smirks. 

“And how exactly did I surprise you, may I ask?” 

“Well I thought you were the typical uptight, straight girl who would lecture me because I smoke. You’re not even straight” 

“I guess your gaydar is broken” Laura smiled. 

“I was never so glad to be wrong” she said with a wink, and then took a sip from her beer 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear to god this fanfic is SO GAY!!!  
> don't worry people, not much drama ahead  
> this fanfic was made to be a oneshot, I kind of gave in too much thought about backstory, and that's why the fanfic end up being too big for a oneshot and I divided in a multi-chapter, but having born as a short story I didn't really put any cliffhangers or huge climax in the story.  
> Just expect it to be very fluff and chill :)


	4. The Guitar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> what time is it? MORE BONDING TIME!  
> In which Laura learns more about Carmilla's past and why she didn't finish college.

“Everything is up! Finally, I can’t believe we had to wait until 3am to load the truck” LaF said tired

“Yeah, well, that sucks but it makes sense, it was very dark in the stage for us to disassemble the drums and gather all the cables” Danny said cleaning her forehead with the back of her hand

“Thanks for helping Laura, you know you didn’t have to” Perry said with a smile

“Well there’s nothing very interesting in filming you guys loading the van again, so, why wouldn’t I help?” Laura said offering Perry a smile. She felt an arm crossing her shoulder and she turned her head to face Carmilla, who was wearing a very charming smirk

“Thanks for your help cupcake”

Perry looked at Laura knowingly and turned around to distract a very confused LaFontaine

“You’re welcome, _cutie_ ”

“Hey you don’t use my own nicknames with me.” she said taking back her arm, much to Laura’s displeasure “c’mon, get in the car, we have to go to the motel”

xxxxxxx

Laura was feeling stupid, like utterly profoundly stupid. She sighed, running her fingers through her wet hair as the water poured hot against her face. Danny was crashing at her friend’s house, Perry and LaF obviously wanted a room for themselves and of course, that meant she was sharing a single room with Carmilla. The part about being stupid was because she didn’t realize it until they were checking in the motel. Of course that wasn’t a problem, well, it would have been better if Carmilla didn’t insist on getting out of the shower wearing only her underwear, causing Laura to blush furiously again, running towards the bathroom and locking herself in. Laura didn’t even have time to think about what she would do about her attraction, would she risk kissing Carmilla even knowing it could be a onetime thing?

_“Well, I mean, it's not like I’m in love with her or anything, I’m just physically attracted so… Maybe I should just go for it? Then again even if I’m not in love I might not like seeing her kissing another girl, and I really like the band, so I’ll probably stick around even after the project is done. And even if I don’t kiss her, I won’t like seeing her with other girls, so I think that doesn’t really make any difference- UGH I HATE OVER-THINKING”_

Laura huffed and turned off the faucet, stopping the pouring of water. After changing into her pajamas she took a deep breath and left the bathroom, expecting to find Carmilla in the bedroom. But she was wrong.

The journalist heard a small knock on wood coming from the balcony, curious, Laura opened the door which led her outside, only to find Carmilla sitting in the front porch, she had a guitar on her hands and she was writing something in an old notebook. She didn’t notice Laura, when the journalist was about to open her mouth to say something the singer stroke a few notes on the guitar, Laura closed her mouth, suddenly forgetting what she was about to say. Soon Carmilla’s voice followed the melody and the small girl closed her eyes, letting the music sink in.

The song Carmilla was playing was very different from _stakes & fangs_ songs. It was more melodic as opposed to the rough and metallic sounds of the band, not to mention the lyrics, it was something more poetic somehow, something about wheels against the wet asphalt and the sound of the city, something about the smell of a girl's hair, and the color of her eyes. It was all very beautiful.

Laura opened her eyes when the song stopped and she smiled, walked a few steps and sat beside Carmilla.

“How long have you been there?” Carmilla asked stiffened;

“Long enough to listen your song” Laura smiled.

“I thought you were still taking a shower”

“I’m sorry, am I intruding? I can go for a walk or something” Laura panicked. It hadn’t crossed her mind that Carmilla might want to be alone up until now.

“It's just that I never show this song to people, not even to the band”

“I’m sorry” Laura said already getting up, but she was stopped by Carmilla’s soft grip on her wrist, leading her to sit again.

“It’s ok, you can stay” she said, followed by a silence that endured for about a minute, both girls looking at the highway; it was already past 4am, the night was very silent except for one or two cars passing by.

“I thought it was very beautiful, to be honest” Laura said softly.

“Thank you”

“I noticed it is very different from _S &F_ material, are you working on a parallel project?”

“No, that’s just for me. It's things I like to write and compose but they don’t really fit into the _S &F _work, so I just keep it to myself”

“Well you should consider recording an EP at least.”

Carmilla looked at her “Do you think so? Don’t you think it goes against _S &F _and completely discredits the songs?”

Laura shrugs “no, I just think it shows versatility, you know? _S &F_ is more than it looks like at first sight. There are countless cases of musicians who have parallel projects that are completely different from their main band”

“I guess you are right. Look at you, giving me good advice on music, huh?” Carmilla nudged her with her shoulder, but then got serious again “I’m sorry for today, you were caught in the middle of a lot of my fights”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine” Laura said, and they remained on silence for a little while, until the journalist smiled and asked “hey, can you play it again? I like it”

“It’s not finished yet” she answered with raised eyebrows.

“I don’t care” she shrugged with a smile.

Instead of answering Carmilla just slid her fingers across the guitar, playing the notes and singing. Laura closed her eyes and relaxed her head, smiling at the song.

The singer had been with many girls, but there was something about this one. She was different, and no one was ever so taken by her music as much as Laura.

Carmilla played the last note and watched as Laura opened her eyes and smiled at her.

“This song is so pretty, who did you write that for?”

“There was this girl, we were in high school freshman year, her name was Ell, she was the first girl I’ve ever loved” Laura couldn’t help herself to feel a little jealous “We used to date in secret because her mother was very conservative, but this one day she walked on us, she kicked me out, it was very nasty. The next day we were informed that Ell was no longer attending our school”

“That’s… I’m sorry” Laura said rubbing Carmilla’s back, much to the brunette’s surprise, no one rubbed her shoulder in years, not even Perry.

“It’s not over yet. I tried to contact her but her mother would kick me out every time, until they just moved. Two years later she found me again, we would mostly talk online, her mother never suspected we found each other again. When she graduated from high school she moved out of her house to a dorm room near her college, I took a 2 hour trip to visit her, only to find out she was engaged to a guy. I asked her to leave with me, but she refused. I just respected her wish and walked away. We never spoke ever since, it’s been two years.”

“That’s a very sad story”

Carmilla shrugged “I've moved past it now. Anyway, this song was written upon thinking about our relationship, everything that makes me think of her. Now this song lost its meaning you know? Because everything that happened between us makes me feel very numb about the good part of the relationship. I guess I just fell out of love” She said distracted, mostly to herself. It wasn’t very common, but Laura just simply didn’t know what to say, so she just nodded and looked at Carmilla. Was it wrong that she was thinking about how beautiful she is? Because she was sharing something very personal and Laura probably shouldn’t be thinking about kissing her. The student was awaken by Carmilla’s amused voice “you’re staring cupcake”

“I’m sorry, but you look so beautiful and I-” Laura widened her eyes and covered her mouth _shit,shit,shit,shit._

Carmilla tilted her head, considering Laura for a second “Do you think I’m beautiful?” it was a hint in her voice that made the student sad, it was like she hadn’t heard that in a while.

“Yeah, I mean” she said self consciously, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and staring at her lap “you’re very beautiful, and I said that already when I took that picture of yours”

“It was different; you said I was beautiful _in that light”_

Laura look straight into Carmilla’s eyes “ _Especially_ beautiful in that light but you are beautiful all the time, Carmilla” her mind was racing, she didn’t even know where she found the courage to say that.

“I’m glad you feel like that” she says leaning closer.

“I really do” Laura lean a little bit closer too.

“I’d like to kiss you right now” Carmilla added, leaning closer.

Laura’s mind decided that this was the perfect opportunity to ramble, suddenly, Perry’s words coming through her mind _“Carmilla doesn’t ask, she just takes(…)” “what does that even mean?” “That’s not important.”yeah, Laura, that’s not important_ she thought leaning even closer and touching Carmilla’s lips with her own. It was a surprisingly chaste kiss, the guitar forgotten between the two of them, Laura thought the girl was the kind to just grab and kiss furiously and passionately, but she was wrong again – not that she was thinking about Carmilla kissing her. The singer moved her lips in the most romantic way, bringing a hand to Laura’s cheek, in response the journalist rested her hand in Carmilla’s neck, she smiled in the kiss when she felt the girl shiver. Even when the brunette deepened the kiss it was still very slow and very _very_ good.

They parted and Carmilla smiled at her. One of the real ones, not just the usual smirk.

“We should sleep, it’s past 4 a.m and we should hit the road by noon today.” Carmilla said in a soft voice, still looking at Laura’s eyes. She had amazing eyes. They were brown and depending on how the light stroke they had a hint of green, the singer always loved eyes that changed shades.

“Yeah, we should”

Carmilla’s smile turned into a smirk “and don’t think I’m trying to get you in _my_ bed, I’m a gentlewoman”

Laura blushed furiously “I was not thinking about that! We have a trip tomorrow!” she swatted the singer’s arm with the back of her hand before getting up. She didn’t know if kissing the Carmilla was a mistake, but it surely felt good. She could stress about this tomorrow. For now she would just sleep with a stupid grin in her face.

“Laura?”

“Yes?” she said turning around, only to met with Carmilla’s lips on hers again she laughed in the kiss.

“Good night” the brunette smiled.

“Be careful, you're spoiling me”

Carmilla shrugged “It’s for the greater good”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Carmilla woke up with a soft hand on her shoulder, slowly and gently shaking her up.

"Come on, get up you lazy thing" Laura said playfully when she noticed Carmilla was suppressing a smile. The singer opened her eyes to meet Laura's. The journalist was sitting next to her on the bed, still wearing her doctor who oversized shirt and sweatpants. Carmilla must be really whipped because she actually though the girl looked super cute.

"Come on Carm, if you don't get up you won't have time to eat before we leave"

"Have you eaten already?"

"No. I was waiting for you. Perry and LaF went ahead and Danny won't be here until the time we leave.”

Carmilla didn't bother about eating but Laura was waiting for her, so she just got up, sitting on the bed with an exaggerated moan

"Don't be a brat. Go freshen up and change."

"You're still in your PJs too, what are you talking about?"

"But I already brushed my teeth and hair. I just need to change. Just go for Christ sake!"

"OK, geez, tiny McGrumpy"

"Shut up. Without the combat boots you're like an inch taller than me"

Carmilla smirks “Aren’t you gonna kiss me good morning?” she said in a low, teasing voice.

Laura blushed and scrunched up her face “you’re such a brat” she said giving Carmilla the briefest peck on the lips she could.

“Ouch! I’m offended, do you call that a kiss? No wonder you were single”

 _‘Were?’_ Laura thought, but brushed the idea aside, she shouldn’t give herself too much hope about that.

“You don’t deserve a real kiss until you are ready to leave” Laura teased.

Carmilla pouted playfully and walked towards the bathroom.

“You’ll still owe me a kiss when I get out, and you better be ready for it” she said closing the door.

As Carmilla brushed her teeth and tamed her curls into a messy bun she gave a thought about last night, sure she had enjoyed the kiss, it was very innocent but who said chaste kisses couldn't be good too? The fact was that Laura was adorable and sweet and Carmilla couldn't seem to shake the annoying interest she had for the girl. Of course Carmilla didn't believe in love at first sight or any of that romantic shit people tell themselves when they want someone, what she did believe in was attraction and empathy. And she felt both for the small girl. Carmilla twisted her nose to herself in the mirror, she knew she was capable of monogamy and she knew she was into the girl… Carmilla froze at the spot.

_"Capable of monogamy?_

_Jesus Christ Carmilla you've know the girl for what?_ _Two days? Get a grip!"_ Carmilla sighed as she gave the final touch to her hair, deciding it was too early for that whole shit.

Meanwhile Laura was having a hard time picking a shirt. She knew Carmilla would be out of the bathroom any minute now, which meant she didn’t have much time to pick one. She made a frustrated sound as she heard the door handle turning, so she picked the first thing in front of her and put it on, to avoid being seen half naked by Carmilla. Not that she was hiding anything but after seeing the singer half naked she was kind of self-conscious.

Carmilla got out of the bathroom and stopped with her hand on her hip, raising an eyebrow and offering Laura a smirk.

“What?” Laura asked.

“Cupcake, I know we kissed but that doesn’t mean you can wear my clothes”

“I’m not- what?” Laura looked down and realized the shirt she'd grabbed was actually Carmilla’s _Stakes and Fangs_ shirt. She blushed “Oh god, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was yours. I just grabbed the first on because you were leaving the bathroom and I wasn’t actually-”

“Ok stop that, don’t worry cupcake, you can keep the shirt. You wear it better anyway” she smirked “I was just teasing you but I guess it’s time for me to give you a thing”

“Give me a thing?” Laura was confused.

Instead of answering Carmilla went straight to her bag and searched it for a second.

“So, we had this idea a while ago, a gift for Perry, but we figured we might need a few more, so we made like five of them. Until this day only Perry has one”

“What are you talking about?”

“This one should fit you. It will be a bit big but I guess we can cut it and make it very punk if you want” Carmilla shrugged, giving Laura a folded red shirt.

Laura looked at it curiously as she unfolded. In the front of shirt it was written “I’M WITH THE BAND” in a punk, scratchy font.

“Seriously? That’s for me?” Laura gave a huge smile that made Carmilla’s stomach float.

“Yeah, I mean, you are basically our public relations manager now, right? You’re doing all the filming and stuff, so LaF told me to bring the shirt. Of course we didn’t know how it would be to have you on tour, so we didn’t give it to you right on the first day, but I figured you proved yourself worthy” Carmilla shrugged “people really like you, I mean, there’s something about you…” The singer lost track of her thoughts for a second, but it was soon interrupted by Laura’s huge hug. For a girl that small, she was really strong. And had a really nice smell. And it was very soft. Carmilla should _really_ stop doing that.

“Thank you thank you thank you”

“It’s just a shirt, cupcake” She smiled, hugging the girl.

“But… it means a lot to me. I feel like I belong with you guys… Do you believe in soul mates?” she asked while taking a step back to look at Carmilla. She was still really close to be talking about soul mates.

“Not really” the singer said in a small voice. Laura was indeed really pretty.

“I’m not talking about the romantic type, soul mates can be friends too” she smiled “and I feel like I was supposed to be around you guys, like it was destined, like it doesn’t matter which path I chose in life, I’d still end up here with you guys”

“This is a very heavy conversation for someone who just woke up” Carmilla offered her a light smile.

“Yeah I’m just being overemotional and silly”

“Do you know the Greek myth about the soulmate thing?” Laura shook her head negatively “I’m just going to change my clothes and I’ll tell you all about it during breakfast” she smiled and ruffled Laura’s hair a bit.

“Ok” she said excited.

“Laura, aren’t you forgetting something?”

“If you’re talking about the shirt, I’ll put it on right before the show”

“No, I’m not talking about the shirt”

Laura rolled her eyes and shook her head, but her lips were twitching just a bit in amusement. She got close to Carmilla and kissed her.

“Now that’s better.”

xxxxxxxx

Watching Carmilla speak about something she was actually excited about was Laura’s new favorite thing. The singer had this smile and spark in her eyes.

“So you _do_ have a geek side, huh?” Laura teased as she munched the last piece of pancake on her plate.

“It’s the pillars of our culture, everyone should know philosophy”

“Maybe you should do a philosophy major, since you are so interested in this stuff?”

“Oh sweetie, been there done that”

“What? I thought you didn’t go to college”

“I did go, the first semester, and it was _lame._ I just couldn’t survive the prereq classes, they were too boring, except for one or two” Carmilla shrugged.

“Tell me about it” Laura said letting rolling her eyes.

“I was going for a philosophy or music major, I wasn’t exactly sure about it yet. I lived with my grandmother for years, when she passed away I was left alone, I had no family, Perry and LaF were handling their own crisis and Danny was living with her parents, so I couldn’t just move in with any of them, so I visited hundreds of apartments until I found one with a decent location and a decent roommate, and I had to pay for it, right? So I got myself a job, in a music store, of course being a waitress might have had a bigger paycheck at the time, but I’m not cut out to being a waitress, I’d pick a fight with some rude costumer in my first day, for sure.” she said and Laura chuckled at that, it was now a vivid image in her mind.

“Now music is something I can handle pretty well. I was working in this music shop, and my boss noticed that I had some knowledge about music, so he made me manager. That was like double the money I made in sales, so I finally had enough to build something I always wanted, a home studio. So for a few months I saved a lot, I ate only cup noodles because I really wanted a cool mixing desk and a cool notebook to run the softwares, and of course at least one good microphone, that’s kind of expensive and if you add to the other bills it’s even harder to gather the money, so that meant a lot of late shifts and playing in pubs for extra money, and that meant that my grades were sinking, after all I was always too tired for college. When my boss found out about _Stakes and Fangs_ he asked me to work in another of his stores, this one sold musical instruments, and he hired me to lure customers in and keep an eye on things for him, and of course he kept my managing position”

“Lure?” Laura said amused.

“Yeah, when the movement was slow I’d just sit in front of the store with some instrument and play for people passing by. It always gathered a big crowd and it always guaranteed some customers. Soon I had enough money to buy my home studio, in fact, my boss sold me half the things I needed for it with a huge employee discount. I kept working on the store for another month or so, but I was freelancing, writing some jingles for small companies, and soon I had tons of jingle requests. Two jingles I made would pay me the same amount as my salary. So I left the shop. My boss was happy that things were working for me, but still he was sad to see me go. I still come by sometime”

At that point of Carmilla’s story Laura had forgotten that it wasn’t just them in the world. She watched with full attention as the singer resumed her story

“Of course, freelancing is a bitch, this one month near the end of the semester I didn’t have any commissions, and I had burned my last paycheck buying a new amp. I got desperate. My ex-boss couldn’t help me with a job because he didn’t have any openings and the business was really slow so he couldn’t afford one more employee on either of his shops. That was when I saw the ad for the music school looking for music teacher, and I figured that it was kind of perfect because I wouldn’t have to work six hours straight and that would help me with my freelance job, and that’s what I did, I went to teach kids music.”

“Wait wait wait, kids?”

“Yeah, kids, why?”

“I mean, I’m sorry but you don’t seem the type to have patience with kids”

“I would be offended but I thought that myself before I start. I don’t know, I’m just very good with kids. They think I’m awesome because I’m in a band and I have a undercut and tattoos and piercings, and they are kind of afraid of me sometimes, so that helps” she chuckled lightly “people think because I have all this punk attitude I can’t commit to things” _or to people_ she mentally added “but that doesn’t mean anything, it's just a stereotype”

“Oh, that’s not what I meant, I mean… it’s not about how you look, it was more about the whole brooding thing… I am making it worst, aren’t I?” Laura scrunched up her nose and smiled.

Carmilla laughed lightly “it’s ok, I know what you mean.”

“Please resume your story, auntie Carm”

“Ok don’t ever call me that again.” Carmilla glared and Laura chuckled “well that’s pretty much it, I started giving music classes to kids, soon my jingle business got back and then it hit me, why was I in college? It was just making me spend a lot of money and I wasn’t enjoying it. That was what I wanted to do; I wanted to make a living from music. I wanted to write songs, jingles, and give classes to those little devils I call my students, so I just dropped college”

The rest of the breakfast was uneventful

Laura was glad she got to know Carmilla a little bit better, and she felt like they were forming a strong bond, even though she was having a hard time not to stare at Carmilla’s lips as she talked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on tumblr whoisdeh.tumblr.com and see more stuff about the punk!carmilla au!


	5. The Backstage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which hollstein decides to have a private party in the backstage

“So, did you have sex with Hollis?” LaF said putting a hand in Carmilla’s shoulder from behind her

Carmilla jumped “HOLLY CRAP LaF, what the fuck!? Where the hell did you come from?” she asked annoyed.

The singer was very concentrated, sitting at a table in the Calgary pub they were going to sing that night. She was actually revising the song she sang to Laura in the previous night, but she closed the notebook really fast when LaF startled her.

“I’ve been calling your name since I got into this room, but you were so focused on whatever you are doing that you didn’t even listen me, so that’s not my fault”

“Jesus fuck, you almost killed me. You know this band has zero chance if I die, right?”

“Maybe that’s exactly what we need to become famous. We’ll change the band’s name to “Carmilla’s Heart” and we’ll have this tragic story about how our beloved leader died from a heart attack, leaving us with her tragic songs to sing alone. I think that’s just good marketing” LaF shrugs and laughed.

“Yeah yeah, I wouldn’t try my luck on that, ginger.”

LaFontaine chuckled “So, you didn’t answer me, did you sleep with Hollis?”

“You know, just because you've known me for 5 years that doesn’t mean you get to ask me stuff like that”

“well, you’re usually the one who comes bragging about ‘banging hot chicks’, I thought that means you don’t care about talking about your conquests” LaF teased.

Carmilla squinted and decided to ignore that, answering with another question instead “What makes you think I slept with her, ginger?”

“Well, she’s all smiles and giggles and happiness, even more than usual, and you’re being oddly pleasing today as well”

“Ok, well, we might have kissed last night” Carmilla hated the smile that grew across her face, but she could do nothing to prevent it.

“Holy shit! I knew it! I knew you were into her”

“What?”

“Yeah, I mean, you are kind of pleasant with her, or at least your version of it”

“Shut up, I just think she’s hot”

“Hey I’m not judging! but...” LaF made their serious face and Carmilla sighed “look, Hollis is different from the other girls who hang with us, right? So you should just have a talk with her about whatever expectations you might have about this. It’s not too late to tell her is just physical, but you got to be more careful when you tell her, ok?”

 _What makes you think is just physical?_ Carmilla could not keep the thought from coming to her mind. Was it more than that? She wasn’t sure, but as much the singer hated it, LaFontaine had a point.

“Right. Sure” it was all Carmilla could manage to answer.

xxxxxx

In her defense she was a hundred percent determined to have a serious talk with Laura when she dragged her to the backstage, but the girl bit her lip unconsciously and made that cute face of hers and Carmilla just couldn’t resist, she just stared at those lips, and those eyes, and the next thing she knew was that Laura was all over her, and well, she couldn’t find the willpower to brush the girl off, which meant they had been making out in the backstage for at least ten minutes now. And it was very hot. Carmilla focused on every feeling she had. Laura’s hand holding her neck, scratching her scalp every once in awhile in the most delightful way, her other hand traveling across her back very lightly, giving her chills, her small body pushed roughly against her own, her thigh slightly pushed between her legs which wasn’t helping her concentrate on anything else, especially when the small girl shifted and her leg got even closer to her center. Carmilla could no longer hold a low moan.

Moan? Carmilla didn’t fucking _moan._ This needed to stop right away. She parted from Laura and she hated the knowing smile the girl gave her.

It was kind of sexy though.

Shit, that _needed to stop_.

“Laura, look, as much as I appreciate this, I didn’t bring you here to make out” Laura looked at her waiting for her to continue. Carmilla sighed and took a step back, running her fingers through her hair “it’s just that I…”

“You don’t want to commit, we’re not exclusive” Laura smiled, but there was something in her eyes Carmilla couldn’t quite grasp “it’s ok, I- I wasn’t expecting to be exclusive”

Carmilla admit to herself that those words hurt a bit, even if she doesn’t quite understand how that’s even possible.

“We’re good?”

“yeah, we’re good” Laura got closer to Carmilla again “where were we?”

Carmilla smiled, lacing her arms around Laura’s small back and kissing her.

xxxxxxxxxx

So, maybe Laura didn’t think the whole “I wasn’t expecting to be exclusive” thing through. She only realized that at the after party mostly because Carmilla had at least four girls practically drooling all over her, and well, Laura knew that the singer at least thought she was attractive, but man, those girls were not easy competition, they were all tall, athletic, very stylish and very _cool_ overall, but that was not exactly what was bothering Laura. The journalist was more concerned about the fact the she and Carmilla appeared to have nothing in common, but those girls? Laura was sure they knew all about Carmilla’s favorite bands to say the least. Not to mention they were all probably Carmilla’s type.

Laura was chewing her lip, a bit anxiously when Carmilla’s eyes met her own, an instant smile growing on both their faces. So, what if Laura was 5”2 and knew nothing about Punk? The only thing that mattered was the brunette dodging her fans and walking towards her. And that Carmilla chose her even though she could have picked any of those girls. The singer hugged Laura, lacing her hands on her small back, and the small girl threw her arms around her neck. She smelt like beer, and smoke, and something woody, and Laura figured she really liked that particular scent.

“Come on Hollis, let’s go backstage” she whispered in Laura’s ear sending a shiver down her spine.

“Are you sure? That’s the last show of the music festival, you should be celebrating with the others” she said in a weak voice, mostly because her brain is just screaming ‘ _yes, shut up and go with her!!!_ ’

Carmilla backed away to look at Laura, but her arms were still on the her small back.

“I’ve been here for the past two hours, now I want to celebrate with you. Alone.” She smiled and Laura nodded.

As they walked hand in hand towards the backstage, Laura could hear a few girls gossiping.

“Looks like Karnstein has a new toy”

“She’ll get tired of her in no time, look at her, she’s not her type at all”

Laura felt Carmilla stiffen on her side. She stopped and threw her arms around Laura’s shoulder in a protective and rather possessive motion. The journalist watched in awe as Carmilla glared at the girls before kissing Laura breathless in front of everyone. The brunette smiled at her and looked into her eyes.

“Don’t listen to them” she said in a whisper, only loud enough for Laura to hear.

Carmilla lead her through the door and a corridor in silence until they reached the backstage that was now empty, except for the band’s equipment.

“The show was amazing tonight; it was the best one I’ve seen you play”

“Well, we’re all in a good place, I guess, so there’s that.” Carmilla shrugged.

“What you mean ‘in a good place’?”

“Well, I just mean everyone has good things happening to them, and that obviously reflects on our performance. LaF and Perry are awesome, and by that I mean no more dramas in their lives, and they are finally moving in together. Danny finally got back with her girlfriend Betty, which I appreciate because good lord, her lyrics during the time they were broken up? Just no. Besides, the audience was really energetic tonight. It was just awesome”

“What about you? You said _everyone_ had good things happening”

Carmilla smirked “I’ve met an amazing nosy girl who keeps asking me too many questions even when we’re completely alone and we can totally make out”

Laura blushed a little “Well, what a rude girl”

Carmilla got closer “Don’t talk about her like that, I really like her” she said finally closing the remaining space between them and kissing her lightly as the young girl smiled through the kiss.

Laura pushed Carmilla lightly towards the couch and pushed her down laughing as the girl fell unceremoniously. The singer looked at her with one raised eyebrow. Laura gave her a smile full of second intentions as she sat on the singer’s lap, much to her surprise (and pleasure).

“Well well well, aren’t you eager” Carmilla said as soon as she recovered from her surprise.

“If you don’t want me in your lap I can just…” she said motioning to get up, but she was stopped by Carmilla’s hands grasping at her waist, keeping her in place.

“Don’t you dare” the brunette said in a low voice that sent shivers down Laura’s spine. She lifted her head towards Laura’s throat, kissing her skin, and trailing kisses all over her collarbones and neck, then her jawline. The journalist was impatient; she tangled her fingers in Carmilla’s hair and sought her mouth for a deep kiss. Soon enough both girls were heavy breathing and Laura was kissing down Carmilla’s neck. The brunette had enough experience to know where this was going.

“Laura, Laura… _Laura_ ” she said pushing the girl back lightly. She looked at Carmilla concerned.

“I’m sorry, did I hurt you? Do you not want to do this?”

“No! No. Believe me, I really want this, but… well, we’ve met like two days ago”

“Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t think that was a problem for you” Laura said and Carmilla frowned. Ouch. That hurt, but it didn’t make it any less truth though “I didn’t mean it like that! I just meant that you seem like the kind of person who doesn’t think of sex as a sacred thing that has to be preserved or whatever. Because it isn’t, right? If there are two adults consenting, there’s nothing wrong with casual sex. I’m sorry if I was too quick to judge”

“No, you are right, that’s what I think about sex. And well, I thought that _you_ were not the kind of girl to have casual sex, though”

“Well, usually I don’t, but I really like you.” she said looking everywhere except at Carmilla.

“I’ve done that with a lot of girls Laura. But somehow you are different? I just want treat you right”

Laura was looking at Carmilla now. She raised both her hands and cupped her face.

“I’m not made of glass; I’m not going to break. I know what I’m getting myself into and I’m fully aware of this. I can take care of myself. If you don’t want to, it’s fine, but if you are avoiding having sex with me because you think I’ll get hurt, don’t.”

Carmilla looked at Laura considering everything she said for a moment. She was indeed an adult, she seemed very sure of herself, and also they were both very much into it. The singer took one of Laura’s hands into her own and lead it to her mouth, kissing her knuckles lightly, then slid her free hand to Laura’s hair, kissing her in the lips, briefly and lightly. She parted their lips and the singer looked in her eyes, from this close distance Carmilla could see every shade of gold in it.

“I want you Laura Hollis.” Carmilla said in that tone of voice that always sent shivers down Laura’s spine, but this time it was followed by a _throbbing_ between her legs. Laura bit her lip and looked at Carmilla, holding her breath.

“I really want you too” she wished her voice didn’t sound so weak.

Carmilla closed the small distance between them, kissing Laura deeply. Her hands were everywhere, on Laura’s hair, on her small back, on her neck, on her face, under the shirt, over her bra, and Laura could not hold a long moan. She felt Carmilla’s lips twisting against her collarbones. Laura was heavy breathing and she was desperate for more contact. There was too many pieces of clothing, and, well, to be honest, it had been some time since she last had sex with a girl, and Carmilla knew very well what she was doing, which meant she was already embarrassingly wet.

“You still want to do this?” Carmilla asked, taking a break from kissing her skin to look at her.

“Don’t you dare stop on me now, Carmilla.” She said in a sassy tone that made Carmilla laugh.

“Ok, I’m sorry I even asked” she smirks “I mean it, though, we’re still on the backstage room”

Well to be honest Laura forgot where they were “Can we get back to the hotel?”

“We’ll have to get back here to help load the truck” Carmilla said amused as Laura moaned out of frustration. She bit her lip “We _can_ do it here though. No one gets inside the backstage besides the band, and I think everyone noticed our intentions, so I think we’re good”

Laura considered for a moment “does the door have a lock?”

Carmilla looked over Laura’s shoulder for a second “yes”

Laura kissed Carmilla and stood up. Carmilla licked her lips, her heart was beating _too fast._ The girl walked over the door and locked it, she leaned against it and bit her lip as the brunette stood up and walked over her. Carmilla pressed her body against Laura, pinning her against the door and kissing her with passion, soon enough the small girl was moaning and her hips jerking forward seeking contact with Carmilla’s leg, that was currently between Laura’s legs, and constantly pressing against her center.

Suddenly Laura felt cold as Carmilla stepped back, she automatically followed as the brunette led them towards the couch again, this time Laura stopped right next to it and reached for the hem of her own shirt, in order to take it off.

“Let me” Carmilla said going forward to help the girl undress. she bit her lip as she looked at Laura’s torso, her lips eager to kiss her nude skin, she laced her arm around Laura’s waist and laid her down on the couch, climbing on it afterwards, one knee on each side of the girl’s body, straddling her, she looked down, licking her lips as the small girl’s hands were tugging up the hem of her shirt, undressing her quickly. They kissed again, and Carmilla already knew she’d never get tired of those kisses.

“ _Carm…_ ” Laura said and Carmilla smiled down at her.

Carmilla kissed Laura’s cheeks, and chin, trailing kisses down her throat, collarbones, she stopped over Laura’s breasts for a second, the girl props herself on her elbows so the brunette can unclasp her bra with a single hand. As soon as the piece was out, Carmilla’s mouth were already on her skin and Laura moaned quietly as the singer sucked her skin. Soon she resumed her path down, stopping at the girl’s waistband and looking up. Laura nodded and Carmilla quickly unbuttoned her jeans and slid it down, Laura jerking her hips up to make it easier for the singer.

Carmilla took her time kissing the inside of Laura’s thighs, eventually licking and biting here and there, and as much as the journalist loved everything she was getting even more impatient. She was about to say something when she felt Carmilla’s fingertip playing lightly with her clit over her panties.

“Jesus…” she sighed, throwing her head back. She underestimated how much she wanted Carmilla to touch her.

“My name is Carmilla, not Jesus, why does every girl call me that name?” she teased.

“Oh well, I guess I’m with the wrong person then, goodbye” Laura actually tried to stand up but Carmilla quickly propped herself up to face Laura. Their faces an inch apart.

“Oh no, please, stay.” she licked Laura’s bottom lip “I’ll make it worth your while”

Laura’s mouth was dry; she bit her lip “yeah? We’ll see about that” She wished she sounded more confident though, but it didn’t matter because Carmilla was kissing her again, and she was making that thing with her tongue that _wow._

Laura felt as the brunette’s hand traveled down her body, her fingertips grazing lightly at her skin, giving her goosebumps. She teased her over her panties again. Laura bit her lip.

“You’re still wearing your pants”

“Yeah, and?”

“I want it off of you” she said reaching to unbutton Carmilla’s pants. The brunette smirked at Laura’s eagerness as she stood up beside the couch to help the girl undress her.

Laura had sat up to undress Carmilla, and the soon the clothing was discarded Carmilla sat on the girl’s lap, smirking.

“Hey you are copying my move, Karnstein”

“Nope, I’m not” she smirked again, she was about to say something clever but she felt Laura’s lips on this sensitive spot on her neck right behind her ear, the brunette dug her fingernails on Laura’s skin and took a sharp breath.

“Oh, I’m guessing you like that” she said with her mouth hovering over Carmilla’s sensitive spot. Instead of answering Carmilla just brought her chin up and kissed her mouth.

Carmilla was practically dancing in her lap as they kissed, the brunette bit her lip and looked at her sliding her hand down Laura’s stomach once again, this time sliding inside the girl’s underwear.

“I can’t wait any longer. I want to touch you” her voice was raspy and low. Laura nodded licking her lips.

She threw her head back when she felt Carmilla’s fingertip touch her sensitive spot. Apparently the brunette took that as an invitation because as soon as Laura threw her head back, Carmilla’s teeth were digging in her flesh and both of them moaned.

Carmilla’s fingers were ghosts on Laura skin, the girl jerked forwards trying to increase contact but Carmilla just smiles against her skin and refuses to give her what she wants.

“Carmilla… _please_ ” she begged between small moans and Carmilla’s stomach turned, she felt her own excitement rising. She adjusted herself and pushed Laura to the side, so that she could lie on the couch again. She obediently lied down, the brunette hovering over her long enough to take off Laura’s (ruined) underwear, but as soon as that was done she lied on top of Laura, kissing her, her hand automatically traveling down, resuming her task. Carmilla let out a low moan when her fingertips touched Laura’s wet and hot skin, she felt too much pleasure upon giving girls what they want. She felt her arousal increase as she saw Laura tilt her head back, with eyes closed and mouth slightly parted. Laura was beautiful, and Carmilla wanted to take in everything about her, she wanted to keep this memory alive as long as possible. She watched as Laura licked and bit her own lips, her eyes traveling down Laura’s neck, collarbones, breasts, torso and stomach, she felt Laura squirming beneath her as her fingers touched her in a steady pace. She couldn’t wait any longer, her lips were aching to taste the girl beneath her, and she wasn’t going to deny herself that pleasure, would she?

Carmilla kissed down Laura’s body, starting with her lips, they were soft even though her mouth was dry from the sharp breaths. She took her time kissing the girl’s neck and collarbones, licking, sucking, biting, delighting herself in the girl’s skin. Her mouth traveled down, soon hovering over Laura’s center, her fingers now barely caressing the girl’s clit. She looked up and found Laura staring at her, disheveled, her pupils wide, biting her bottom lip, an unspoken request on her eyes. Carmilla smirked, her eyes never leaving Laura’s as she approached the girl’s center. The singer kissed her inner thighs, her groin, hovering over Laura’s clit for a second, building up some anticipation.

“Carmilla” was the word that left the journalist’s lips, and it was all it took to make Carmilla abandon her plans of keeping Laura waiting.

The singer closed her mouth around Laura’s clit, sucking it hard and Laura moaned loud, a bit too loud, but the bar was very crowded and noisy, no one would ever notice it, Laura seemed to have forgotten where they were, since she was making no effort to keep the moaning down, the thought made Carmilla more invested on her task, her tongue dancing around Laura’s center, her hand clasping on the journalist’s thighs, she felt Laura tugging her hair as her hips jerked forward and backwards, no doubt unable to stay put as the singer gave her pleasure. Carmilla knew Laura was close as her motions became sloppy and slightly desperate, her moaning high pitched and her breathing was very short and shallow.

Laura’s orgasm came in a strong wave, the singer still delicately working on her clit as her body gradually relaxed and her breathing was soothing down.

Carmilla smiled as she kissed Laura’s body in a upward path.

“That was amazing” Carmilla said giving Laura a small peck on her lips. “You are gorgeous Laura.”

Laura laughed “I was the one who got the best part of this and you are the one saying it was amazing?”

Carmilla smiled, lying her head on Laura’s shoulder “What can I say? I just take massive pleasure giving gorgeous girls what they want”

“good for me then, that means I don’t have to return the favor”

Carmilla poked her on her waist and Laura laughed “except you do have to return the favor, if you don’t that would be very rude, and I don’t take you for being a rude person”

“I’m not” she smiled, caressing Carmilla’s back with the tips of her fingers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed the smut :3  
> I swear to god this whole fanfic wasn't an excuse to write backstage sex. In fact, in the original fanfic there was no smut, then I decided it was fitting, given Carmilla's personality.  
> I hope you're enjoying this so far, next chapter is the last one!!!!  
> see you next tuesday with the last chapter of Beat Your Heart Out, aka in which Carmilla is a total sap in punk clothing.


	6. The Bracelet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the author makes a terrible pun about Frozen, also known as: THE LAST ONE! and THE GAYEST EVER

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so WELCOME to the last chapter of Beat Your Heart Out! It has been a pleasure to have all of you here, thank you so much for reading my terrible fanfic!!!! you guys are the best. After you read the chapter make sure to read the end notes!

Laura sighed at the clock, it was 2am, and she had to wake up in five hours to go to the coffee shop where she worked, she pinched the bridge of her nose between her index finger and her thumb and sighed again.

“Come on, it’s almost done Laura. Almost done” she talked to herself drinking her redbull and getting back to editing.

 _Stakes &Fangs _ music video was almost done, and Laura really wanted to give it to them by tomorrow, it was their 6 years anniversary and Laura thought it would be a great gift. She was almost done with it two days ago when her notebook decided to freeze and the save file corrupted, making her lose all of her hard work, but gladly all the footage was intact, still, she was editing like a crazy person in all of her free time, and of course through the night . She grabbed her huge can of redbull and drank from it again. Just one more hour.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Carmilla walked into the coffee shop with a grin on her face, she felt stupid but she loved visiting Laura between the classes she gives. Her grin turned into a frown when she saw Laura, though, the girl had bags under her eyes and she looked really tired.

“Hey, cupcake, what’s wrong? You look awful” Carmilla said, kissing Laura’s cheek.

“Gee, thanks” Laura said with a fake smile.

“You know I don’t mean it like that” her eyebrows shot up. Usually Laura was very cheery, and she was even more cheery when Carmilla would visit her in her shifts. Something was very off.

“I know, I’m sorry, I just get very cranky when I don’t sleep” She said sighing.

“Wait, again? Didn’t you say you stay up late yesterday? Laura, what’s going on?” She frowned again.

“Nothing, just some college stuff, you know, studying and project…”

Carmilla visibly relaxed “Cupcake, you are trying too hard, just take a break”

“Yeah, it’s over, the… project thing I was working on, so tonight I expect to sleep properly”

“Oh, and here I thought I’d get some celebratory action tonight” she teased and Laura rolled her eyes “hey I’m just kidding, but you are still coming to my place after the anniversary gig, yeah? I promise to behave and let you sleep” Carmilla said with a charming smile. Laura could never say no to that smile, even if she wanted to (which she didn't)

“Yeah” she said with a tired but honest smile.

“Cool. I’ll just sit over there” she pointed in a general direction behind her.

“The usual?” Laura asked.

“Yes, please” she said giving Laura a quick peck on the lips before turning around towards her favorite spot on the coffee shop.

Carmilla sat down with a sigh, watching Laura talk to other costumers and taking their coffee orders. A month had passed since they got back from Calgary. Even after all this time they hadn't spoken about their situation yet. Laura obviously didn’t say anything but Carmilla just knew she was not cut out for an open relationship, and to be honest the singer was not “enjoying her liberty”. In fact she had turned down 4 girls in the past two weeks alone, and she knew what that meant, well to be honest she knew it from the start, she wanted to be steady with Laura, and after a month she could say that Laura was worth it; the main reason being the fact that the girl hadn’t complained about their situation not even once, that was enough reason to convince her, but of course there were other reasons why the singer wanted to be with her. The journalist was different from the other girls. She was bright and cheery and funny and very very smart. Carmilla could not suppress a smile at that thought. She felt lucky to have Laura.

“You’re smiling at me like a fool today, what is it? Is there something in my teeth?” Laura smiled at her, handing her a coffee and a plate with a donut.

“I was just thinking how awesome you are” she said honestly.

That caught Laura by surprise “I-uh- thanks, I guess” she blushed.

“Don’t let it go over your head”

“I wouldn’t dream of it” she said stealing a bite of Carmilla’s donut.

“Excuse me! Please miss, bring me your manager, I need to tell them that their employee is stealing food from customers.”

“Oh, the manager is well aware of that” she said pointing to a small pin on her chest, written _manager_ in it.

“You should bring me the owner then” Carmilla couldn’t hold a smile.

“Yeah, sure thing, _cupcake”_ Laura said turning around to leave.

“Oy, that’s my line!” Carmilla said with a smile.

“Too late” she said over her shoulder as she walked towards her customers.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“Ok, where the fuck is Laura?” Carmilla asked for the hundredth time in 20 minutes. She was walking around the room, anxiously.

“For the last time, I don’t know, she said she’d be here 20 minutes before the show, but she’s not. Maybe something happened at her job and she had to stay there a while longer” Perry said patiently “Ok you must have walked 30 miles inside this room. Just chill out! She’ll be here”

Carmilla dropped herself in the couch, reaching for her pocket and bringing out a little box in her hand, fidgeting with it.

“This is stupid, I should just drop this”

Perry panicked “no way” she said sitting next to Carmilla on the couch “Carmilla, you’ve been with her for a month, you haven’t even considered being with other girls during this whole time, I know you kind of expected that to change, but the fact is that it _didn’t_ , and you know how you feel about her, she’s worth it, you said so yourself, so why not make it official? You know all of this, and you’re just having cold feet, and it’s pretty normal after so much time of open relationships it can be a bit scary to commit.”

“I don’t have problem with commitment, I’m just afraid I’ll disappoint her at some point… She’s just too good for me you know? She’s so smart and beautiful”

“I’m pretty sure she feels the same way about you” Perry offered her a sweet smile.

“What? No way”

“Carmilla, you are so talented and very easy in the eye”

“Ok, Perry, you’re dating my best friend, so, please, I won’t kiss you” Carmilla teased and Perry laughed and rolled her eyes.

“Just go for it, ok? No time for cold feet.”

The door swung open and Carmilla looked hopefully, but she deflated when LaF came in.

“Perry, they are assembling a projector on the stage, do you know something about that?”

“I don’t know, but I know there’s a DJ coming up after our show so I’m guessing that this has something to do with that”

The door swung open again and Laura hushed inside. Carmilla stood up right away and Laura threw herself in her arms.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, it’s just some stuff didn’t go according to the plan, and I had to do it all over again, and then it didn’t work again, and then I had to try another way, but I didn’t know what to do, so I had to call my A/V friend, and she helped me with everything, and then it worked, so I came as soon as possible” Laura said so fast Carmilla had a hard time understanding a few parts.

“Ok, chill, at least you got here in time for the show” Carmilla offered her a warm smile “What were you trying to do anyway?”

“Can’t tell, you’ll see soon enough” Laura gave her a wide smile and a kiss “Hi”

“Hi” she said laughing lightly.

“Oh you two are so gross” LaF said.

“Grosser than LaFontaine and I for sure” Perry add.

“She’s so whipped” LaF said to Perry.

Carmilla gave them the finger, her eyes never leaving Laura and her big smile never leaving her face, even if she was clearly being teased by her friends, nothing could bring her down as long as she had Laura.

“I hoped we could talk before the show but I’m afraid we don’t have the time anymore, so… we’ll talk after ok?”

“I’m sorry for getting here so late, I promise I’ll make it worth it though”

“Ok, and oh, make sure you’re in the VIP area for the last song, ok?”

“Why?”

“Just do as I say” she said smiling and winking .

Laura nodded.

There was a knock on the door and they heard Danny say “ _guys, we’re up, let’s go!”_

Carmilla smiled excited to her and gave her a quick peck before leaving for the stage, as Laura went out from the other door that lead to the bar.

“ _Hi guys, how are you all doing tonight?”_ Carmilla asked and the crowd cheered “ _we are stakes and fangs, I’m guessing you know that, right?”_ the crowd cheered louder and chanted _stakes and fangs_. Carmilla laughed “ _thank you. You also might know that tonight is our six years anniversary, that’s why tonight’s show will be special. We’ll perform your favorite songs, our favorite covers and of course, even some new songs you had never heard of, so yeah, LET’S ROCK!”_

Laura smile and bit her lip. The energy was amazing, all the fans were super excited and the band was specially invested tonight. The show was completely off the charts, LaF even dived into the crowd (Perry panicked, but everything went out just fine). Carmilla even sang “the hunger” much for Laura’s pleasure.

“This song is the last one” the crowd made a sad _aw_ “don’t be sad, we’ll be back here in a few weeks, you’ll get tired of us eventually”

“NEVER” Laura shouted from the VIP area and Carmilla laughed.

“This last song is another cover from _the distillers_ , the song is called ‘beat your heart out’. This one is for Laura”

“And for Perry” LaF added on their microphone. The crowd laughed.

“AND FOR BETTY” Danny screamed all the way back from the drums, sadly few people could hear, but gladly, the one who mattered did.

Danny started a fast beat on her drums, followed by LaF and soon for Carmilla’s voice.

_“Baby, you make my heart beat faster._

_Baby, you make my heart beat faster. I know._

 

_Let alone to rest alone,_

_Yeah you're making me._

_I had to run the damage is done,_

_I give it up, I give it up._

_There's nothing left so take the rest,_

_Yeah you're draining me._

_I set it alight it burns so bright,_

_Stab it out, stab it out._

 

_Baby, you make my heart beat faster._

_Baby, you make my heart beat faster. I know.”_

 

She was looking straight to Laura’s eyes, and singing with a smile and Laura laughed.

_Carmilla was singing a love song for her._

Oh, well, the punk equivalent of a love song, but still, it was a big deal. Laura watched in awe as Carmilla sang, sadly it was soon over. Laura just wished she could rewind and watch everything all over again a thousand times

“Thanks everyone for coming!” Carmilla said and everyone clapped and cheered.

Before any of them could leave the stage, most of the lights blacked out, Carmilla looked at LaF who was mirroring Carmilla’s frown.

“What the fuck?” Carmilla said, the microphone catches it and Laura laughs.

The projector is turned on and a video starts playing in the screen right behind them. They all look behind to see themselves in a rehearsal, then making fun of each other, everything is mute, but then a song, _their song_ , starts to play in the background, along with more backstage moments and some performances.

Then it hits Carmilla, the music video Laura said she might do, _their first music video._ They all forgot about it when Laura gave them her short documentary about the band (which turned out awesome, and of course Laura’s teacher absolutely loved it because she _really_ went out of her comfort zone to make it and the results were more than amazing) they all just assumed she wouldn’t do it, when actually she was saving it for this special date. Carmilla smiled as she watched the video. She glanced at Laura, who was anxiously watching her, no doubt waiting for her reaction. Without thinking about it Carmilla jumped off the stage and jogged over to Laura. Everyone was watching the video few people noticed what Carmilla did. Laura dropped from the equipment case she was sitting on to greet the singer, who hugged her really tightly and whispered a _thank you_ in her ear.

“You’re missing your music video” Laura teased her.

Carmilla laughed and turned around to see the rest of it, her smile growing wider and wider by the moment.

When it was over everyone cheered and clapped. LaF and Danny were crying and Carmilla was looking at Laura in awe.

“You are fucking amazing, have I ever told you that?”

“Not today, you didn’t”

“You are fucking amazing” she said every word pointed with a kiss “thank you Laura. That was… Amazing”

“I guess you like it then?”

“No, I hate it, It completely ruined the music I sang for you.”

Laura laughed at that “It did not!” she swatted Carmilla’s arm with the back of her hand “I loved the song.”

“Do you know what that means?” Carmilla asked, uncharacteristically uneasy.

Laura bit her lip “I don’t want to make assumptions about it, I much rather having you to tell me what you mean with that” she said carefully.

“Yes, soon. I have to go to the backstage with the band, I’ll come find you so we can talk, alright?”

Laura nodded and Carmilla turned around to leave, but she turned back and kissed Laura breathless before leaving with a cocky smile.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

It had been 42 minutes since Carmilla left saying she would get back soon (not that Laura was counting. She wasn’t.). The whole band was already taking pictures with fans and signing EPs, but Carmilla was nowhere to be seen. Laura sighed and walked over to the bar to order a beer. She was obviously going to wait a while longer.

“If I were you I’d take two of those and I’d waltz my ass to the backstage” she heard a voice near her ear. She turned her face to meet LaFontaine smiling at her “Carmilla sent me for you”

“Oh … kay.” she said signaling to the bartender to bring two, he nodded. Laura noticed LaF was smiling a little too much “what’s going on?”

“I don’t know. Just, go. As fast as you can” they said leaving Laura alone with both beers in hand and a confused expression in her face.

Well, at least LaF was _happy_ so that didn’t mean anything bad. The student was feeling nervous as she walked towards the backstage. Her stomach turning and her hands were wet, and that had nothing to do with the cold beer.

Laura held the two beers in one hand and lightly knocked the door.

“Who is it?” Carmilla asked in a dry tone.

“It’s just me” Laura answered. The door swung open a second later and a smiling Carmilla greeted her. Laura raised the beers and showed it to Carmilla “I come bearing gifts”

“I like the way you think” Carmilla reached a hand and grabbed both of them. Laura stepped in and closed the door.

“I forgot to bring the bottle opener though, do you have any around?”

Carmilla smirked, opening both bottles using her forearm and handing one of them to Laura.

“Oh you think you are so cool, don’t you?” Laura huffed.

“I know I am, and you love it” she smirked again and took a sip of her beer.

“Well, I do _love you_ indeed-” Laura froze. Carmilla choked on her beer and then froze.

Everything was so frozen Laura was tempted to break the ice singing “let it go”

Carmilla cleared her throat “well… I’m glad you feel like that, because…You know the song I sang for you? It’s true, you make my heart beat faster, and I give up trying to understand and, well, I’m not perfect, I’ve been through a lot, but if you still want me…The thing is, Hollis. I really like you, and since we’ve met I’m not interested in other girls anymore, so, I was thinking that maybe, if you want to, we can be steady?” She asked a bit anxious and COMPLETELY out of character.

“Wait, what?” Laura was in absolute shock, she was _not_ expecting that.

“Do you want to be my girlfriend, Laura?” she smiled weakly.

“Yes!” Laura put her beer next to Carmilla’s and gave her a bear hug “Are you serious?”

“Yes.” she stepped back and pulled a little box from her pocket “and I wanted to give you something” she handed Laura the box.

Laura smiled as she opened it, her eyes already watering when she found a silver bracelet with lots of charms.

“I made it for you. There’s one icon for everything about us” she reached her hand to show Laura. “See, there’s a little bass guitar, and the little camera, that’s when we met, then there’s the little car for our road trip, there’s the beer bottle for our first real talk, and there’s the little acoustic guitar for our first kiss, because honestly all the kiss icons were a little weird so… And then there’s the coffee and the donut for our first weeks back. I’m being a total sap and totally not cool, huh?” She smiled at Laura.

The journalist threw her arms around Carmilla’s neck “thank you, it’s perfect”

“Laura, are you crying?”

“no?”

“I can feel my shoulder wet”

Laura burrowed her face in Carmilla’s neck “Maybe I am”

Carmilla raised her hand to scratch Laura’s scalp “I’m glad you like it”

Laura took a step back and looked at Carmilla “you are my girlfriend”

“yes, I am”

“I’m dating Carmilla Karnstein, the singer from stakes and fangs”

“yes you are”

“I said I love you”

“yes you did” Carmilla bit her lip “and I love you, too”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's done!!!! Tell me from 0 to 10 how much did you all love my Frozen pun? Because that was amazing, obviously! One thing I like to comment, everyone who knows the distillers (and it amazes me that some of you do <3 you gorgeous people) you might have seen "Beat Your Heart Out" (the music video) in which Brody says "this is not a love song", but in this case, it is. I just want y'all to know that I'm aware of that haahha.  
> Ok so now make sure to check my art tag in my tumblr to see some punk!carmilla fanart!!! (and there are more to come OBVIOUSLY, because I'm obsessed with punk Carmilla) thank you all for reading, it has been my absolute pleasure to have you all around!


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